A dish best served cold
by Jasmin 0583
Summary: A teenage girl vanishes, and chances seem low to find her alive. So when the team finally reveals the truth about her disappearance, it´s already too late to keep her from seeking revenge.
1. Prologue : The voices

A.N. : Hello and Happy Easter to all of you ! I just returned from my holidaysand  
decided to share this story with you. Hope you like it. Please R + R.

Prologue:

"Miranda?"

There it was again, that complacent voice with a steady, singing tone in it. It had found her, had found her once again – it always did, no matter where she was hiding. She could already feel the tears fill her eyes, the hot, salty liquid that was bedewing her eye-lashes. She didn't want it to happen, but she knew she was unable to fight. As the voice always found her, the tears were always streaming down her face. She couldn't help that.

"Miranda!"

She could hear it – more demanding now, already getting angry, getting angry with her. She forcefully shook her head and hoped to make the voice go away, but she knew it wasn't that easy – it never had been. She pulled the blanket above her head, pulled herself into a fetal position and put the hands above her ears. It was just a desperate security measure – she knew she would hear the voice none the less. She always heard it.

"Please, go away, leave me alone..."

She begged and although her words sounded muffled, the tone lowered because she covered her ears, she could hear the trembling in her voice – the fear. And they would hear it too, they would hear how afraid she was, how much she feared them – the would gain satisfaction, gain victory above her once again. They would start to have their fun with her once again – soon.

The voice's tone – as she had expected it, still audible loud and clear – changed once again, having a false emotion of empathy in it right now. They were only trying to hurt her, trying to break her. She tried to tell herself that she was stronger than this, that she could live through this. They had to stop sooner or later and then it would be over. But only for tonight...

"Ah... Miranda – poor girl, so afraid. Wanna cry, wanna tell your mommy? Poor girl – we're so sorry."

She could hear the hard laughs of the voice and now she wasn't able to hide the tears any longer, she couldn't hold them back. She felt so desperate, so helpless – she grew weaker and weaker every time they appeared. The time they needed to make her cry was getting less with each night that they visited her. Why wasn't she able to defeat them? Why wouldn't they stop?

"Now she is crying – look at her, she's crying. Look what a coward you are, Miranda! Stupid little bitch! Can't do anything right! You can't hide from us, Miranda – try as you might, but you can't ever hide from us. We won't go away – we won't ever go away..."

The voice died down and then it was gone, they were gone. She was all alone once again, left here to cry and to be afraid until they would come back the next time. Left for a sleepless night and a morning even worse than that. She couldn't take it – she just couldn't take it. She couldn't go on like that – never in the world could she go on like that. It needed to stop, she needed to stop the voices from coming back on her. She knew she was afraid and she knew she had no courage, but she was desperate – she was that desperate that being a coward didn't matter to her. She would stop them – no matter what…


	2. Chapter 1 : Miranda Thomas

Chapter 1:

A 16 year old teenager, light brown hair, brown eyes and of normal height and weight – nothing extraordinary about her after all. Not even a single thing – a kid like million of other's in the State of Rhode Island and in the City of New York. The only difference about her, was the fact, that her picture was pinned to a bulletin wall in a federal building. The FBI's missing person's unit – New York City, Rhode Island. This was an extraordinary thing, but not a good one, not after all.

"Miranda Thomas, 16 years of age – her parents reported her missing about two hours ago. She didn't come home from school tonight, that's what made her mother call the class-teacher. It appeared she never actually arrived at school. She left for school at about 7.30 this morning – which gives us a timeframe of already 10 and a half hours since she was last seen."

The picture of her was not like a normal portray, it didn't show the normal expression a person being photographed was supposed – and frequently asked by the photographer – to have on such a picture. She wasn't smiling – that fake "happily ever after" smile, that was an axiomatic part of such pictures – was missing. There was not even the slightest glimpse of it to be seen on that photo. The girl hadn't been willing to smile, she hadn't wanted to – she didn't want to act like she was happy.

"What about the family's social state – any chance that she was kidnapped?"

"Her mother works for an insurance company, her father is a pilot at American Airlines – both of them have are well paid and have a good outcome. The family has it's own house and all of the family members – father, mother and daughter – since she received her driver's license three weeks ago – have their own car. The daughter normally takes this car to get to school, as she did this morning – there are no search results about it by now. But I don't think she got kidnapped – her parents are well-to-do, but they aren't the Rockefeller's."

She was pale, a skin color of porcelain – one could clearly see that in the picture. It made her look vulnerable, like that Chinese kind of porcelain one almost didn't dare to touch, afraid it would break. The girl probably never left the house, locking herself in her room and from the outside world – nobody who ever spent his free time outside had a skin-color that light. It was simply unnatural.

"Any troubles at home?"

"I haven't been talking to the parents yet, but police record said, that the mother couldn't think of any reason for her daughter to run from home. She stated that there hadn't been any problems between them – they were getting along well."

"As well as you can get along with a 16 year old teenage girl!"

"I don't believe that either, but we'll have to wait and see what the mother tells us when we go, talk to her. I still have no idea, why the school didn't call in earlier. It's normal policy to talk to the parents and ask for the child's residence, if they don't get to school. But neither the class-teacher nor the principal's office called the Thomas. The mother had to do that herself. I'm really interested in the class- teacher's and principal's explanation for this."

Her eyes were fascinating and scaring at the same time. Although it was just a picture, it drew the viewer's attention to an extend, that he could lose himself in that picture. And although it was just a simple photography, it had caught the emotion lying in those eyes – how strong must that emotions be in real life, when they were still detectable through the picture? Her eyes' expression was pure sadness, like she had seen the greatest horrors and tragedies of the world. She looked,..., traumatized,..., no – haunted. That was the right word to fit the emotion of that look in her eyes.

A moment of thoughtful silence fell on the conference table they were all sitting around while Jack had resumed the known results about the disappearance of Miranda Thomas.

"We won't get a hold on anyone at school today – it's already to late. We gonna take care of that tomorrow morning. Right now I want you all to join me to the Thomas' house. I need to talk to the parents – at best in separation and I need Miranda's private room to be checked. Maybe it gives us a hint, why she disappeared, maybe she was hiding something from her parents, something they shouldn't know about."


	3. Chapter 2 : The parents

Chapter 2:

Louise Thomas looked like a woman having the strong believe that everything was possible by will and discipline. About 5 feet 8 of height, with long dark brown hair, that already showed traces of gray and had been strictly pinned up to a bun, she could have been a school teacher from last century or the principal of an only-girls-college. She was wearing a dark gray costume and her face showed absolutely no signs of emotion. Like not only disorder, but showing the slightest emotion at any time, was a weakness – a sacrilege.

Her daughter had just rather been kidnapped or ran away from home and her mother wasn't even upset or scared. Maybe she was, but she wouldn't show it, not for a second and that's what made her seem that unnatural. Like she wasn't human after all – and that didn't leave the best first expression with the federal agents that were entering her house to question her about her daughter.

She had a polite smile for all of them when she invited them to come inside in a low, balanced voice, which – as her face – had no audible sound of anger, frustration or fear in it. She acted like the whole situation was normal to her, like she had everything under control. That probably was the crux of the matter – she hadn't. The whole situation was out of her hands, out of her range and there was nothing she could do about that. But she simply didn't accept it as the truth – things like this didn't happen to her and they definitely wouldn't bring her down. That was exactly the way she probably believed, that was, what her behavior pointed to.

Miranda's father on the other hand, seemed to be a completely different character. He was right behind his wife and he seemed pretty upset and afraid about his daughter's fate. One could literally see the hope enlighten in his eyes when they entered the house – like they would be his saviors, the saviors of his daughter. He seemed to be extremely happy and relieved to finally have someone inside his house, who would be able to help, would be able to tell him what was going to happen next and end his nagging uncertainty about the steps that would be taken to find his daughter.

The fact that Miranda's parents had reacted that completely different to their daughter's disappearance assured Jack in separating them and talking to each of them alone. He was pretty sure the mother would hold back information – she seemed to be proud of the fact what a great life she had established due to her own skills. She was that type of person that considered herself the perfect mother, one of this persons that never makes a mistake – she definitely wouldn't admit that there had been any problems with her daughter. The father on the other hand seemed to have only one wish and that was getting back his child safely and as soon as possible and although it probably was hard for him too – admitting a troubled situation was a hard thing for everybody – he would tell them. For his daughter's sake.

"Mrs. Thomas – I would like to ask you to join me and Agent Johnson. Mr. Thomas, if you would join Agent Fitzgerald then?"

Jack addressed the couple and immediately there rose disgust in Mrs. Thomas as she crossed her arms before her chest and shot him a slightly – barely visible – angry look. Her voice was still calm and polite none the less.

"You want to talk to us in separation?"

"Is there any problem about it?"

He directly had pointed to the mother's one weakness – her inability to admit failures. If she would've insisted against Jack's proposal to separate them, so she could keep control of her husbands answers, she would've been admitting that something was wrong. That there was something her husband would talk about, that she didn't want to be revealed. She couldn't do that, she couldn't admit the darker secrets of her family. One could see how her will to insist and argue died down almost immediately.

"No, of course not."

"Thanks Mrs. Thomas. There is another favor I have to ask you for – I would like to have Miranda's room checked, maybe it gives us a hint why she disappeared – a diary or some personal things that point to..."

"She wasn't hiding anything from us, Agent Malone!"

"I didn't say that, I said it's just an opportunity to find some evidence that points to your daughter's current residence. I believe that's in favor with what you want?"

"Of course it is! If it's absolutely necessary... but I have to warn you – the girl hasn't been cleaning up, as she was supposed to."

"I don't think that's a problem."

"When you say so. It's upstairs, second floor – she has the whole space underneath the roof for herself. She locked the room's door when she left for school that morning. I'll go get the keys for you."

That was an interesting point – the girl didn't seem to really have something like privacy. Of course she had her own room and she had the chance to lock herself inside of it and keep the outside world shut out. But what kind of a use was that, when her mother had a key to her room and had the possibility to get in there whenever she wanted to sneak around and spy through her daughter's personal stuff. Jack was pretty sure that Miranda hadn't know about that second key to her room her mother had. Louise Thomas came back with the key to Miranda's room and handed it to Jack, who reached it past to Samantha. She and Danny would be scanning through the girls personal things, while they were interviewing the parents.

"May we have a start then?"

Miranda's mother nodded and guided them to the living room, having a last look at her husband, who disappeared into direction of the kitchen with Martin. Whatever he would say up from this point, it was out of her control and Jack considered that a good thing. Louise Thomas didn't seem nervous after all, as she sat down, wearing that polite smile on her lips once again and waiting for Jack to ask her, whatever he wanted to know.

Martin – right on the other end of the house in the kitchen – gave Miranda's father, who was nervously pacing through his house's kitchen, a look full of empathy. The man was at the edge of a nervous breakdown and he definitely wouldn't calm that soon. He was terrified, probably having hundreds of thoughts of what might have happened to his daughter in mind. His nervousness was plain to see and he didn't make any afford to hide it, he probably wasn't even capable of it right at the moment. But as lost in thought as he seemed, he still caught Martin's gaze and a nervous, sad laugh emerged from his lips.

"I'm sorry – I'm running around like a damn rat in it's cage. As if it would help..."

"It's okay Mr. Thomas – may we have a start then?"

In the living room Jack had passed the same question to Mrs. Thomas already, who had agreed. Now he was up to a questioning of which he already knew, that it wouldn't get them any further and of which he also knew, that he would hear a lot of lies.

"Mrs. Thomas – you informed police, that you last saw your daughter this morning when she went to school?"

"That's correct, that was about 7.30 this morning. She was running late."

"Did you realize anything that seemed conspicuous to you, anything extraordinary?"

"No, I wouldn't say that. It was a normal morning routine – like on every other day."

"Has there been anything about your daughter's behavior that caught your eye, something that disturbed you? Have their been any changes?"

"No, not really. I mean, she's a teenager – a female teenager to be exact. She has her moods and she acts a bit weird or cool from time to time, but nothing that I would consider as unnatural. She was fine."

In the kitchen, Martin had the same question to Miranda's father, but he received a completely different answer. The father sighed deeply in desperation and wouldn't rise his gaze from the kitchen table as he spoke.

"Any? Good lord – she changed completely! I was that concerned, that worried about her! I couldn't believe she still was the same girl that was laughing about my jokes on summer holidays. I have no idea what happened or how, but she changed her mood from one day to the other. All of a sudden she seemed so lost, so sad, so desperate and I still don't know why. She wouldn't talk about it, she wouldn't talk about anything with us anymore. She started to lock herself in her room for days and I haven't spoken a single word with her in the past two weeks. But we haven't been fighting about anything. I don't know what happened to her, I have no idea, but whatever it was, it affected her that deeply – she changed into a different person, a lost and sad person."

Jack continued his questioning with Miranda's mother – hoping for her to finally start to understand that she wasn't helping her daughter when she didn't reveal what she was knowing. But he already knew he wouldn't be very lucky.

"Any troubles at school?"

"Nothing that I know about. She's a good student, she learns a lot, her marks have always been the best... She's good at school."

"That's not what I meant, Mrs. Thomas."

"What is it that you want to know?"

"Have there been any troubles with other students or with her teachers. Did she ever mention that she felt persecuted by anyone or that she frequently was having fights?"

"Miranda doesn't fight – not with anyone. She's a well educated young woman, she wouldn't do that. She didn't have troubles with the pupils in her class and I never heard any word of trouble from one of her teachers. She liked to go to school and she neither was persecuted nor harassed by anybody."

"Before this happened – that situation that made her close in that much, she told me that she was having troubles with the girls at school. That blonde, blue-eyed Barbie type of girls, you know... Andy – uhm – Miranda,..., she is a pretty girl, but she doesn't have the looks most of the guys at her school feel attracted to. I guess she felt pretty bad about it – she frequently had to hear from these girls that she would never ever have a boyfriend – stuff like that. She never asked to get the chance to change schools, but I know she wasn't happy where she was. Apart from that she really is a good student, I'm proud of her... But I never got rid of that feeling that she has to much pressure put on her shoulders. My wife is proud of her to be that good in school too, but she pushes her and – as I believe – to an extend that isn't good for Andy. But she hasn't been harassed, not from the teacher's I mean – there was nobody she was saying anything bad about, no teacher who disliked her or something."

"What about friends?"

"Miranda is very chary when it comes to friends and I don't see that as a problem. I actually appreciate it – who knows who she would invite into this house if she would be less careful! But I don't really like it, when she takes people home with her – I mean, these are strangers and I don't really want them to invade the privacy of my home. Therefor she doesn't see her friends here at home. The only one, who ever has been here – to take her to school in the mornings when she didn't have her driver's license, was a young woman. I don't know her name, but she was some way older than Miranda, probably already studying... Miranda has a list of phone numbers in her room – I guess she's on that list."

"Friends? I have to admit that Andy doesn't have any friends, no real friends at least. Nobody she would be talking to about everything, hanging on the phone with for hours – stuff girls normally do with their best friend. She was seeing a few other student's from her school from time to time, but it was nothing major – they always were a group of four to six people and I don't think Andy really felt that happy among them. More like she was tolerated... But there is someone else I can recall – a student from NYU – Helen, yeah, that's her name – Helen Shriver I believe. She was leading one of the voluntary after-school courses Andy was going to. They were pretty close and I remember she was on the phone with her pretty often in the summertime... But I don't think she has seen her or talked to her lately. She wouldn't ever come out of her room and my wife doesn't want to have strangers in the house..."

"Does she have a boyfriend?"

"A boyfriend? That's ridiculous. She just turned 16 – she's way too young for a boyfriend. She's interested in more serious and important things than boys right now. She has not been seeing any boy at any time at least not under my watchful eyes. I don't know if she secretly has been meeting someone, but I would've noticed that I guess. She's my daughter – I know when she lies to me. And if you want to point to the question if she may be pregnant and ran away because of that – that's impossible, it simply is like that. She wouldn't ever,..., have an intimate relationship with a boy before she gets married and is old and responsible enough to take the challenge."

"No, I don't believe she has a boyfriend, but I know that she had a crush on someone at school. I still see her cheeks flush red as she told me about him. I believe his name was Lukas..., but I don't recall his last name. He was older than her – a year probably, being one grade above her and his girlfriend was giving her a pretty hard time. She had realized Andy had a srush on him and she told her to keep away from him. She was pretty sad about that and I guess she still has that crush, but it's nothing serious – just as teenagers are..."

"What about you and your husband – has she been fighting with you. Have there been any troubles?"

"As I already told the police – she had no reason to run away. I can't recall a single time I had an argument with her. What about after all? She has everything she wanted and ever needed – her own room, her own car, enough allowance to spent and whenever she asked for anything she received it. She has everything she needs for her young life and the only thing I expected from her in exchange was to show benefit in school and to obey to this family's rules. I don't think there is anything wrong about that."

"She never has been fighting with us or with her mother let's say, but that wouldn't mean she was happy. She was just too afraid to insist against her mother, because she knew she could never win a fight against her. She once asked me if her mother even loved her. I believe she was deeply troubled about my wife's emotional coldness. I mean she doesn't do anything wrong – she's a good mother and she loves Andy, but she can't show it to her, she just can't and that's what made my girl that sad. She was unhappy with her life and she knew that wouldn't change, so she stopped arguing. She just tried to get along with the situation and make the best out of it."


	4. Chapter 3 : The girl's room

Chapter 3 :

Climbing up the stairs and opening the locked door to Miranda's room left the two federal agents speechless. Hadn't her mother said, that the girl hadn't been cleaning up for quiet a while? The whole place looked like one of these exhibition rooms in a furnishing house. Everything had an orderly place in the cupboards at the wall, nothing was lying on the clean carpet on the ground, the bed was perfectly made, the desk didn't have a single sheet of paper lying on it and there wasn't even a dust particle anywhere to be visible. The whole place seemed like nobody lived in it – it was just too sterile to be inhabited. A feeling of coziness would never come up in here.

What kind of a life was a teenage girl living, that kept her room like this? She couldn't be happy – that was for sure, not even having the right to leave her school books on the desk and her clothes hung on a chair. This seemed more like a military academy – a life of drill and discipline, never allowing any failure and any weakness. How was a teenager supposed to cope with that, cope with a mother like that? No wonder she didn't wanna come back home! Here there was nothing worth living for, after all.

Sam was almost afraid to touch anything in this room, to leave anything in a mess. She remembered her own private room being a teenager of Miranda's age and it had nothing to do with the sight right in front of her eyes. Her place always had been a mess – things lying around everywhere, dust settled on the cupboards and a bed that always looked like a hurricane had made it's way through it – actually the whole room had always looked like that, like the expanse of ruins of a tornado. It had always needed her mother to threaten her to rather blow the whole room to pieces, if she wouldn't clean it up. And it had just been an annoyed, frustrated joke of her mother – she believed Mrs. Thomas would've actually done it.

The place itself was pretty large for a teenager of Miranda's age – but taking into consideration that she already had her own car – her parents obviously could afford it. Apart from the main room, the one they were standing in right now and that contained everything any other teenager would have in it too, Miranda had her own bathroom and kitchen up here. She had the possibility to live her life all alone, without any connection to her parents. She had everything she needed – at least it seemed like that at first view.

"I'm gonna check the bathroom."

Samantha stated and headed to the open door to the left of the room, leaving her co-worker standing alone in the wide, orderly, sterile private-room of Miranda Thomas. He scanned the room.

"If I were a teenager like her, with such a cold-.hearted mother like her – where would I hide my personal stuff?"

He was silently asking himself while he stepped closer to the cupboards, having a look at the things Miranda was keeping there. It was nothing extraordinary – books, disks, dvd's – all the things she was supposed to have in that room. A little bit of that girlish bits and pieces to make the room look friendlier and more beautiful and her stuff for school – everything orderly put in line. Her desk was completely empty and there was nothing about it that gave it any personal note – no picture of her family, no little souvenirs from any holidays she had put on it – nothing after all. It was the one place in her room that had the one purpose to learn for school at – no wonder she didn't want it to be anything but cozy.

But nothing that even was close to a diary – she rather didn't have one or she had feared anyone could get into her room and read it when she wasn't there. Taking her mother's emotional state and characteristics into consideration, that fear wasn't that far away. As she had a goddamn key to her daughter's room, Danny was pretty sure she frequently was spying on her daughter's privacy to detect anything that wasn't in her favor. Miranda had definitely hidden her diary if she had one and if she had managed to hide it from that excuse of a mother that she had – he wouldn't find it as well.

He was interrupted in his miserable thoughts about Miranda's mother as Samantha stepped out of the bathroom. She wore a concerned expression on her face and he didn't like it when she looked like that. Something was definitely wrong then and that never was a good sign. She went to him and showed him a small, brown glass bottle with a tag on it. It stated "Valerian, mere herbal". He didn't get what she was so worried about – he didn't detect that as a problem.

"What's the matter with it?"

"I got that stuff at home myself, you know. And as you already implied, it shouldn't be a big deal after all."

"Then why do you make it a big deal?"

Sam opened the bottle and spilled to of the pills into her hand. She showed them to him – they were slightly blue with a punched number on it.

"Because I know how these things have to look like and they definitely don't look like that! Whatever it is – it definitely is no natural valerian."

"Drugs?"

"Possible, but I don't think so – if she had been addicted to anything the room wouldn't look like that. She probably wouldn't have been able to keep on to her strict living conditions. I believe it's something else."

"Medication?"

"Exactly – probably something that made her get along with her living conditions. Something her parents shouldn't ever have found out about."

"That's no good, Sam – it definitely isn't."

"I know."


	5. Chapter 4 : The class teacher

Chapter 4:

They had left the Thomas' house late the last evening after interviewing Mirandas' parents and had agreed to not take any further step in the investigation that day. It was already too far into the evening to get a hold on anyone at school or even disturbing them at home.

They had gotten back to the office and held a briefing in which they had recalled the differences in the information the parents had given to Martin, Jack and Vivian – seeing that the mother hadn't been any help after all. It probably had been the best decision to seperate them – though Jack already had been pretty sure the mother would hide things – now he was sure.

He was also informed by Sam and Danny about Miranda's medication in her private room. They had gotten the pills to the lab, but they wouldn't have a result on that till the next morning or probably even midday. They would have to be patient about that. Yet Jack was pretty worried about that little piece of information. It matched to the information the father had given, that Miranda felt like under pressure and this left a whole range of probable reasons for her disappearance. Jack right now was fearing the worst case – the girl hadn't gotten along any longer and had just ended her life... But there still remained hope and a whole bunch of other outcomes. Giving up wasn't an option – not after all.

Now at the next morning, with bright sunlight streaming through the wide window into the room and to the conference table they sat at to coordinate their forces for the day, everything looked a little better – less hopeless – and Jack was just about to order his team into different directions of investigation.

"Viv, Martin – I would like you to get a hold on that woman the father was talking about. The student, who took Miranda to school several times. We need to find her, hopefully she knows something about her..."

"Sam, Danny – I want you two to get to see Miranda's class teacher Rachel Parker. She already agreed to give her testimony as the mother was talking to her. She informed me about that yesterday – and she was openly accusing Miranda's teacher to be responsible for the delay in reporting the girl's disapearance..."

"Is she then?"

Danny asked Jack with a sarcastic tone in his voice. He had experienced Miranda's mother and he knew she had a pretty specific way of seeing the world, which meant that she wasn't responsible for anything. But Jack didn't give in to Danny's sarcasm.

" I actually don't believe that's true, I believe she didn't even listen to the teacher. I would like to find out what actually happened..."

Jack gave the class teacher's private adress to them as they left the department and then drove off into direction of the class teacher's appartment. It was her free day of school today. Rachel Parker lived in a small flat in Brooklyn outside of downtown New York. Her teacher's loan didn't allow her much luxury, but she was happy with where she was – just that she wasn't happy with how things were right now. She had agreed to meet the FBI agents at once, so she – now – would be able to help as soon as possible, as she hadn't been able to help about Miranda earlier.

Ringing the door bell and waiting, Sam and Danny found themselves looking at a mid-fifty year old women, with dark hair that already showed signs of grey and a friendly face. She seemed slightly nervous as she smiled at them and gave them a slightly questioning look.

"Mrs. Parker?"

"Yes, that's me. I guess you're here for Miranda Thomas?"

She had a close and knowing gaze at them as she said that and there also seemed to be some curiosity in it. She probably was interested in getting to know about her pupil's fate, finding out if there were any news already. If it was for a feeling of guilt because she hadn't reported the girl's disappearance earlier or if it simply was pure curiosity they couldn't tell.

"Indeed we are. We would like to ask you some questions about her abscence yestrerday morning..."

Now a slight expression of guilt seemed to flush over the teacher's face, but it was mixed with something else, something that astonished the two agents. It seemed like there was some anger mixed with her major feeling...

"I already told her mother, that there was nothing I could've down any earlier. I didn't know there was anything unusual about her abscence, I hadn't known she had vanished.!"

"Easy, Mrs. Parker – we aren't accusing you of anything. Would you just tell us what happened?"

"Sure...

Flashback

"Mrs Parker...?"

The classteacher slightly entangled in fetching all of her things to finally be able to leave the class room, looked up at the voice addressing her and gave the young girl standing in front of her an encouraging smile – Miranda Thomas. The shy, but very smart young lady sitting in last line of her class.

"What is it Miranda?"

" I got a slight problem...?"

"About what?"

"I got an appointment tomorrow, a doctor's appointment, but I forgot to inform the principal's office and it's too late to do that now. I just wanted to inform you about it and I'll get the doctor's _Attest_ to the office tomorrow. Would that be okay?"

She thought about it for a moment, having a close look at her pupil. The girl was shy – she barely remembered hearing her talking after all. And above all she liked her, she felt pity for her from time to time – wishing her school life would be a bit easier. She wouldn't blame her for forgetting informing the office – it was just human and the girl seemed to feel extremely uneasy about it. She gave her a smile.

"It's okay honey, don't worry about it. I'll take care of it and inform the principal's office tomorrow."

She believed to see a very faint smile on the teenage girl's lips and a feeling of gratefulness appeared on her face – like she couldn't believe anyone would do anything for her by free will.

"Really? That's just wonderful. Thank you so very much Mrs. Parker. I really apreciate you taking all these effort on yourself... I really need to thank you..."

"It's okay Miranda, it's no problem and it's definitely not an effort. Just get the confirmation from the doctor to the principal's office when you're back in school."

"Sure Mrs. Parker – I definitely will."

The young woman gave her another shy smile and rushed out of the room. Rachel Parker couldn't help herself but smile for a few seconds and then sigh. Somehow it was cute and on the other hand it was simply tragic. The girl had acted like a rabbit caught in a trap – she had been so afraid, she just couldn't believe it and her overeagerness to say thank you had somehow seemed cute. But how scared of the world and the people around her must she be, how much must she be lacking of any courage and love for herself that she had been that afraid...

It was the one thing she absolutely disliked about her job – there were always things she could simply observe, but do nothing against it. She was no psychologist, she was no friend and she wasn't the girl's parents. It wasn't her job to get Miranda through that hard time of her life. She was only responsible for her education and she tried to do at least that job the best she could...

End of flashback

She ended her resume of the conversation she had with Miranda and had an expectant gaze at the two agents sitting opposite of her. She knew she had taken a lot of effort in defending herself with telling that she couldn't do that much for her pupils and she actually didn't even know why she had said that. She had nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of and she hadn't done anything wrong. Still she had told the story the way she had done and somehow she had that slight, uneasy, uncertain feeling, that the two agents were sceptical.

"We haven't heard a single word about that by now. Mrs. Thomas didn't tell us about it."

A sarcastic and hard laugh emerged from her lips before she had been able to get control above it.

"That's because we didn't talk about it. We didn't even get that far when she called me. She simply accused me of being responsible for her daughter's disappearance and that I would have to explain my behavior to police. That's it – I didn't even have a chance to tell her what really happened. She didn't listen to me."

She could see the two agents exchange knowing gazes and she could feel her uneasiness slowly vanish. They seemed to believe her – at least in this point.

"So what happened yesterday?"

"Nothing – I went to the principal's office and informed them about Miranda's appointment and then I had my classes as usual. I didn't think about it any more, for I was sure she would be back in school today. She had told me so and I hadn't doubted her. Of course I could've called the parents or the doctor she claimed to go to, but she always seemed a sencere girl to me. She never missed a single day of class since I know her and she never distrusted anyone. I didn't see the necesity to aprove her explanation."

"It's okay Mrs. Parker. Is there anything else you can tell us, anything you know about Miranda? Friends of hers, people she frequently saw or people she was in trouble with?"

"I really don't know her that well, but I don't think she ever was having a fight with anyone. But when it comes to such personal terms as friends, I really don't think I can help you much..."

"Anything you recall might be a help."

"Okay... I actually recall seeing her the one or other time with three other pupils, but I can't say which kind of relation they had with each other, I simply remember seeing them together... That would be Anmary Dale, Violet Shavers and Lukas Wilson.

A few moments of silence followed after her last statement and she waited for anything else to happen or to be asked, but the two agents were down with their questioning. They rose and thanked her for her time, telling her to stay available if their would be any further questions. She leaded them to the door and said goodbye.

A deep sigh emerged her lips after she had closed the door behind them. The silence of her dwelling suddenly seemed unbearable to her and she just wished for any sound to reach her ears. Anything that would distract her from thinking and recalling. Being confronted with the conversation she had with Miranda once again – she now had started to feel guilty. Maybe she should've been more doubtful, maybe there had been more she could've done... But it was too late for such thoughts now, simply too late.


	6. Chapter 5 : Friends

A.N.: Sorry for the long wait. But as I haven't been home for the past two weeks – I didn't

really have the time. However I hope you enjoy it. Pleas R+R.

Chapter 5:

Three names – that was all they got, three names of people that were potential friends of Miranda Thomas. Three students at her school she had had contact with – and of course the woman her mother had been talking about, the woman that had driven her to school. But they hadn't found her by now – Martin and Vivian were still doing research on her.

For now they had started at Miranda's High School and their searching results had been pretty discouraging. Two of the students in connection with Miranda were girls, the third one was a boy – a boy who Miranda had seemed to have a crush on – but he wasn't present at school today – his class was out for an excursion for the day and they wouldn't be back till the evening. But it was better than nothing – though it was pretty close to nothing...

Sam and Danny were about to start their interviews with the two remaining girls – their best lead at a time right now. The principal's office had given them the classroom numbers of the two young women – Anmary Dale and Violet Shavers - and they were on their way to question them right now. They had started with Anmary; who was in her math course right now.

They were lucky to catch up to the classroom just as the bell ran and break began. Therefor they didn't need to disturb the whole class and drew atention to themselves. They just asked the first girl coming out of the room for Anmary, who pointed at her, without even asking any further questions.

The young woman had their back on them and was slightly bowed over her desk. It seemed like she was closely scaning through or reading something lying on it, but they couldn't see it. She wasn't very tall, about 1,6 meters and extremely thin. With shoulderlong darkbrown hair and a pretty dark skin colour – like she just had been for holidays, lying in the sun for several weeks. She probably came from a family with parents of different colour.

As the went close to her and addressed her, the girl seemed to wince slightly for she hadn't even detected them before, packing her things slowly and seeming somehow deeply lost in thought for no obvious reason. As she turned quickly, she tried a smile and gave them a startled look.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Agent Taylor, this is Agent Spade – we're with the FBI – we would like to ask you a few things about Miranda Thomas. Her class teacher told us, that you know her?"

"No, not really – I mean I know her name and I know what she looks like – we're in the literature club together, but it's not like I know her well. I actually barely know more than her name... Is she in any trouble?"

"She went missing yesterday morning."

"Oh, I'm... sorry to hear that. But I don't think I can help you much. We really haven't been close. We once did a homework together which had to be done in pairs. But we didn't really talk about anything else than that homework and she never stayed any longer than for the time we needed to finish this up. We didn't get close. We just did that work and afterwards we didn't become friends or something..."

"So – you have no idea what might have happened to her?"

"No, not the slightest, I'm sorry. She really did't tell me anything personal – she hardly told me anything after all..."

"Well thanks than Annmary..."

She nodded slightly and quickly fetched her things to hurry out of the room, leaving the two agents behind, who exchanged thoughtful looks. This hadn't started out very well, not well after all. They really had hoped to get some useful information, but they obviously were just discouraged some more. Danny was the one getting it to a point and still having some hope.

"Let's just hope we'll be more lucky with that other girl."

Sam just gave him a nod without saying anything – she didn't like the proceeding of this investigation. It actually made her feel pretty sad to find out about the lack of social life Miranda Thomas was having. They crossed the floor and went up the floor to the Physics classroom, catching up with the class of the second girl just as the bell rang again.

"Violet Shavers?"

Samantha called out to keep the girl from getting inside. One of the young women, standing in a crowd of 5 other girls, who were giggling, turned around and looked at them. She was tall, with a well curved body, blonde and with deep blue eyes - the perfect modell for the homecoming queen at the end of the high school year. Probably she actually was, or had been last year. She seemed pretty popular and pretty superficial at first view, not a person who actually got to do anything with Miranda – according to what they had just heard from Anmary...

"Yeah? Who are you?"

"We are with the FBI, we would like to question you about Miranda Thomas. Do you know her?

"The little psycho girl? I'm glad I don't got anything to do with her...? What about her – why's the FBI interested in her?"

Sam felt already tensed when the teenage girl anounced her first question, that first four words. She just couldn't understand the emotionlessness and – well – hatred in the younger woman's voice. She didn't get how anyone could be so harsh about another person, especially if not knowing her that well. She one's again realized, that there seemed to be something about Miranda that startled people and scared them away. She couldn't keep her own voice from getting harsh as she went on questioning the girl now.

"She disappeared this morning... Why are you calling her this – psycho?"

"Because she is! She's strange you know – closed in and stuff. I don't like her that much, I never did – actually. Most of us didn't want to have anything to do with her, almost everybody to my knowledge and the major part probably would feel pretty glad about knowing, that the school just lost the strangest part it ever had..."

Sam exchanged a short gaze with Danny and saw exactly the same feeling on his face, that she had right now. Where did the girl take that audacity from? She actually hadn't known Miranda after all and still she was talking about her like she had a right to do so. It seemed like she didn't have any feeling of empathy...

"But her class teacher told us, that he had seen you and Miranda together at the school yard several times?"

"That was not because we were on friendly terms or something... To tell you the truth – I believed she actually was interested in my boyfriend – Lukas Wilson – that's why I talked to her. I mean – not that there had been any need – I logically knew she was no harm, no competition for me, but I just wanted to make sure that she understood. And as she didn't stop looking out for him I talked to her several other times..."

"And you didn't know her any closer, except for the troubles you had with her?

"Look – I didn't know her and I didn't want to know her, okay!"

Danny tried a smile and an expression of understanding, although it was the last thing he wanted to do right now. He was absolutely not feeling like it – he couldn't understand that girl, her emotions, her attitude, her words. How could someone feel so hard about a person he barely knew, have so many prejudices about her? What had Miranda done wrong? What was her offence? But he actually didn't mean to disturb the girl – offending her wouldn't change anything about Miranda's disapearance. The girl seemed to grow nervous right now, for none of the two agents said a word to her. But her voice still had the same slightly offending tone in her as she asked right now.

"May I leave then?"

As Danny nodded – still without saying a word - the girl turned away, still that slightly disgusted and annoyed look on her face, like Miranda was the last thing she wanted to think about – the most uninteresting, boring, unworthy thing to waste a thought at – not even for a second. Danny waited some seconds before he turned to look at Samantha.

„It seems like the poor girl didn't have any friends at all…"

She gave him a thoughtful look for some silent moments before she answered. There was no need to say anything after all, but she felt uncomfortable to just end the conversation like this. It was that sad and heartbreaking – the situation about that lonely teenage girl – that she felt like she needed to say something important, something grave to at least get some proper emotion to the girls fate. But there wasn't anything coming to her mind, not a single word – just some trivial lines...

"Seems like it..."


	7. Chapter 6 : Lukas Wilson

Chapter 6:

The very same evening Sam and Danny were once again leaving the office to interview a student – they would be taking a visit to the third person Miranda's class teacher had told them about. The boy she had the crush on and who's girlfriend had given her a pretty hard time. Lukas Wilson.

The principal's office had given the teenage boy's family's private number to them and they had called his mother, who had agreed to let them come over in the evening to question her son. She had seemed pretty uneasy, but that wasn't actually something to read a lot of into. Most people were uneasy if they got involved with a federal agency without actually knowing what they had done wrong.

Lukas' mother had told them, her son would be home at about six in the evening and now – half an hour later, they just entered the street the family was living in. The place they were living at actually didn't deserve to be still classified as a house – it would have been an underestimation. Mansion was more of an appropriate word to describe the Wilson family residence.

Both of them had half expected a housekeeper to open up on them, but the woman opening the door and not looking all too happy or willing to cooperate, introduced herself as Mrs. Wilson - Lukas' mother. She allowed them to enter, leading them to the living room where her son was already waiting for them.

"Lukas – these are the people from FBI I told you about."

There was no visible reaction from her son – obviously he was as unwilling to help as his mother was. But as none of the two of them knew why the agents were actually here – his mother at least hadn't wanted to know when they had called to ask for her permission to question her son – it wasn't much of a surprise.

The mother sat down next to her son, offering them the opposite couch to sit at with a sign of her hand and still wearing that emotionless expression on her face. Her son however didn't seem interested in all this after all – he didn't even look at them. Before they were able to address him and start their interogation, his mother took the word.

"As I heard, you are searching for the Thomas' girl. Poor family – they must be sick in worry for their girl..."

Samantha gave Lukas' mother a surprised gaze. Who had told her about this? They hadn't and so far Lukas – who hadn't been home all day – couldn't have known anything about it either.

"Yes we are searching for Miranda Thomas, where did you know that from?"

Lukas was answering the question for his mother, finally deciding to participate in their conversation.

"Violet – that's my girlfriend – called me earlier that day on my cell. She told me that she was questioned about Miranda by the FBI and that she had dissappeared."

"Why would she call you because of it?"

"I don't know – maybe because talking to the FBI isn't something she does every day and she wanted to talk about it with someone."

"So – what did she tell you?"

"Not much – just that you asked her about her relationship with Miranda and... well that she told you about her little ... problem."

"You mean Miranda having a crush on you?"

"Look, it wasn't that serious. I mean she never actually had enough courage to come to me and tell me anything. But the way she was looking at me and trying to be close to me... I know it's not very fair, but we were having some fun with her, you know – making her believe I was actually interested. Violet however didn't think it to be that much fun."

There it was once again – and it once again caused Sam to share looks with her co-worker and find the same sort of emotion in his face – the same emotionlessness and lack of empathy Violet Shavers had already showed for Miranda Thomas. Nobody seemed to have ever treated the young teenage woman as an individual who was actually having feelings and a right for dignity...

"I don't think it was that much fun for Miranda either."

"No – sure it wasn't. Look, I know we were wrong, but it happened, I can't change it any more – so what?"

The way the boy was behaving was unbelievable. He had hurt the young girl and he didn't even care about it. His uneasiness resulted in the fear for himself and for nobody else. He didn't think about Miranda while answering their questions, but how to cover up for his own actions in the best way.

"Is there anything you can tell us about Miranda. Did she ever talk to you, mention any trouble – some reason for her to run away."

"As I already told you – I never had any real contact with her and she was too shy to talk to me. I don't know anything about her."

"That's funny – because her class teacher told us that you have been talking to her several times?"

"Yeah sure I was, I already told you – we were making fun of her. But she never told me anything about her personal life, her parents or some other stuff like that. I really don't know the girl."

The boy was lying – one could see it in the way he behaved – how he didn't manage to look at them and shifted uneasily on his seat at the couch. He was hiding something, something he didn't want to talk about and it probably was of importance. They needed to find a way to push him to talk to them, to tell them what he knew.

"Your girlfriend was pretty upset about you and Miranda – maybe she has something to do with her disappearance...?"

Samantha didn't get a chance to go on and Lukas didn't answer her. He was interrupted by his mother, who stared at the two agents in disbelief and anger before answering to their question in an freezing cold voice.

"This is redicolous. Violet is a very good and rightful girl, she would never do anything to anybody. So if you're not able to find that Thomas' girl don't blame anyone else for it. Neither Violet nor my son have anything to do with her disappearance!"

"Mrs. Wilson..."

"No – I don't want you to accuse my son of anything else. This conversation is over and you will leave my house now."

She got up from the couch and the look in her eyes told them that she wouldn't allow any other word of insisting. They needed her permission to talk to her son and she had just – literally – thrown them out of her house. As Lukas wasn't a suspect after all, they had no more chance to go on with this interview.

They were guided to the door by Mrs. Wilson without another word. She was obviously very angry with them... or maybe she was angry about something else, about something her son had done... But as long as they didn't have any prove that Lukas Wilson had something to do with Miranda's disappearence there was no chance to force him to talk...

As his mother had closed the door behind them without a word of goodbye and they crossed the front yard to get back to the car, it was Danny to anounce what both of them had been thinking for the whole time of this unproductive conversation.

"He's hiding something – they both are."

"Yeah – definitely."

TBC

Tell me what you think.


	8. Chapter 7 : Briefing

Chapter 7:

„So, how did it go?"

Sam and Danny had just returned from the Wilson's house and Jack had asked them to join the rest of the team in a short briefing before they would leave the office for today. The one thing they could tell for sure was, that there probably hadn't been much progress, as Jack had already anounced it a short briefing.

The two of them probably were the only ones who had a couple of news to bring to that investigation and there really wasn't much to say about their interview anyway.

But yet there still was a last glimpse of hope. Miranda was missing for some more than 25 hours, which still wasn't a long period of time. But the longer she stayed vanished, the harder it would get to find her. And they were running out of possibilities right now.

They hadn't found any friends, the parents hadn't been a great deal of help and apart from that girl the father had told them about – that student Miranda had been driven to school by, which they still hadn't found – there were no more chances.

It didn't look too good right now, it actually didn't look good after all, but giving up on her wasn't an option, it was never an option. It was as simple as that : right at the moment they were waiting for some kind of turning point in their investigation. Some revealing of a great mystery that would help them. And from what they had heard about Miranda and her closed in behavior, it was most likely that there was at least the possibility for some hidden secret in this investigation.

"Not good. The Wilson boy is definitely hiding something, but his mother stopped us from questioning him before we were able to find out anything more. She was very upset too – probably knows what her son is lying about."

"What **did** he tell you?"

"Not much – he said he didn't know Miranda, he never really talked to her and so on. Basically he actually knows nothing from her. But here's one interesting fact : as soon as we stopped questioning Violet Shavers – the student Miranda's teacher told us about and who by the way is also Lukas Wilson's girlfriend – she called him and told him that we questioned her. Lukas however told us that she just wanted to talk about it and that the interview upset her. Actually she didn't seem that upset to me and as both of them didn't care even the last bit about Miranda I think it's pretty amazing that all of a sudden they show that much emotion and concern about her disappearance."

"So you suspect that she warned her boyfriend about something?"

"It's at least pretty much probable – but it's nothing more, just a suspicion. There's no way to prove it."

"Alright then. Any other progress? What about this mystery woman the father was talking about?"

Martin answered the question about the young student from NYU that was their best lead as being a friend to Miranda right now. Unfortunatelly he hadn't much of good news to present.

"No luck so far. There's a Helen Shriver studying psycholgy at NYU, but she obviously isn't available right now. Her roommate told me that she was somewhere out in the woods for a hiking and camping trip. She will come back somewhat this night. Her roommate promised to tell her to call as soon as she comes back."

"That's not very good news – we really don't have much time for any more delays... But there's obviously not much we can do about it. Vivian?"

Vivian picked up the tail, handing out several copies of a printed piece of paper to the rest of the agents sitting around the conference table. It showed a list of telephone records and finacial transfers from the Thomas family.

"Actually there isn't much I can tell, nothing really sticks out. No major buyings in the last couple of month, no extended phone calls – nothing showing any sign of why Miranda would want to run from home. There are only two things that stick out: five days ago Mirtanda's father was having a half an hour talk with Miranda's school psychologist. I called him on that one and he told me that the psychologist was informing him that Miranda had been forced to visit her. She adviced the parents to visit her and talk to her as soon as she would be back from a six day vacation. She will be returning tommorrow."

"And the other thing?"

"That's a bit more delicate – Miranda's father has two legally licensed guns a precision riffle and a 9mm Baretta. He recorded the riffle missing on Saturday and it hasn't reappeared since..."

"That's neither good news, Viv. I guess you suspect the stealing´ of the riffle is somehow linked to Miranda's disappearance?"

"I would at least consider it a possibility."

"What about that school psychologist? Principal's office and the father said Miranda had had an appointment there."

"Yes she had, but that's all we know so far. The psychologist will be back at school tomorrow and she agreed to meet us on that day in the morning at around 9:30 a.m. She wouldn't tell us anything about why she talked to Miranda or what about on the phone."

"She knows how urgent this is, does she?"

"I at least tried to explain it to her, but she wan't really listening. She said she couldn't come back any earlier and she needed to have a look into Miranda's peronal file before telling us what was going on with her."

"We obviously have to wait until tommorrow then. Alright. Martin – what about forensics did they find out anything yet?"

"Well, they're sure Miranda took her cell phone with her, but she didn't use it since her disappearance. And as they can only trace a call if she uses it in a way we can track down... It isn't much of any use after all. The pills being found in her bathroom however are a completely different matter. Forensics so far only had a first look at it, but they already confirmed Samantha's first suspicion. It definitely isn't valerian or any other form of non prescribable medication."

"How long till they have their tests finished?"

"It'll take about another hour at least."

"Alright then – we will wait for that tesing results and then we gonna end the search for today. There's nothing more we can do about this today."


	9. Chapter 8 : Waiting

A.N.: Sorry for the delay, but I have had a rather busy weekend and didn't get the time to post

any sooner. Anyways – on with the story. Please R+R.

Chapter 8:

They left the conference table and settled down at their own desks, waiting for news from Forensics. In any case an hour of pure and simple waiting was definitely a thing to drive one nuts. Especially when the reason for the person's disappearance was as open as in this case.

There were about a dozen of different possibilities – Miranda could've simply run away, could have been taken advantage of by one of the other students, could have gotten herself into some trouble or had simply just killed herself. Right now their leads pointed into each direction. They had no idea what happened to her and that testing results were the one evidence that maybe would give the case its turn.

"Hey – what's up with you?"

He didn't answer to her immediately, taking another few moments of thinking and then looking at her. She wasn't sure what she was seeing in his face, but she didn't like it. It was way beyond professional concern that she was seeing there. For some reason she believed he felt somehow attached to the girl... Him finally answering brought her back to the started conversation.

„I just don't get this…"

"Get what?"

"How people were actually able to treat her like this."

He was definitely right on this one and she didn't actually feel any different about it. Miranda Thomas definitely had been having a hard time at school, but it wasn't that unusual. Almost every class at high school had one person everyone treated like the loser, that nobody did like so very well or knew anything about.

"It's Highschool, Danny, it's normal."

He took a step away from her, taking a close look at Miranda's picture hanging on the board. He wouldn't say anything for a moment, simply just staring at her, like he would be able to detect where she was by simply looking at her. He turned back to Samantha and she believed to see a certain feeling of empathy in his eyes, empathy for this girl's situation, for whatever reason. He pointed to the picture, addressing Sam once again.

"This – is not normal and it's not okay. I don't even need to see this girl in person to know that she's haunted by something, something terrible and nobody ever noticed. Nobody cared about her. Her father couldn't talk to her, her mother projected all her hopes in that girl never seeing she was unhappy and her friends,... well she didn't have any – just people who were playing with her feelings."

She frowned by his words, by the emotions in his voice. Of course, the way Miranda had been treated by the other students wasn't the nicest way to be with someone, but she still didn't think it out of the ordinary. And considering the familiar situation – there were probably about a million other families with similar problems. But on the other hand – she couldn't detect the same thing in this picture of Miranda Thomas that Danny did.

"What are you so agitated about?"

"I already told you, it's just not right."

She looked at him and looked at the picture of Miranda once again. She seemed a normal teenage girl to her, a teenage girl with some trouble maybe, but not different from anyone else being her age. She wasn't smiling, but that wasn't that much of a surprise to her. Being an unhappy teenager, faking a smile for a picture wasn't the most lovable thing a girl would want to do.

"Of course it's not right, but she isn't any different from any other teenager I know. Maybe really a little more troubled – yeah, but not unusual."

"You don't see it, do you?"

"See what?"

Once again he pointed to the picture, forcing Samantha to follow his gaze at the photo. She didn't like what was going on around her – the way he treated her, the way he wanted her to see whatever trouble he saw in this picture of Miranda.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just seeing a teenager in this picture. There's nothing I can see. Maybe she's troubled, but she's definitely not haunted´ as you put it."

"Alright, maybe she isn't. But what is all the hiding about then? She never talked to anyone at school, her mother ignored her, she couldn't communicate with her father and that mystery friend of her's is nowhere to be found. She didn't even tell her parents about the school psychologist..."

"She's a teenager – of course she's not telling her parents. I wasn't even talking to my father being her age and you cannot tell me you were at best terms with..."

She stopped in the middle of the sentence, but she knew it was already too late. He definitely knew what she had been about to say. She hadn't thought about it, hadn't meant to hurt him with her words, but somehow their little conversation had gotten way more heated then she had ever wanted it to become.

"No, I definitely wasn't..."

"I'm sorry, Danny – I didn't mean to say that. I wasn't thinking... I'm really sorry."

He gave her a look that lasted for some akward moments and then she received a short assuring smile from him. He knew she didn't mean to hurt him intentionally, she had just been caught up in the emotions of the moment.

"It's okay."

She nodded in approvement, not knowing what to say. Fortunatelly she wasn't forced to do so for any time longer. Martin approached the two of them at Danny's desk right now. He was holding a file in hands, stopping next to them and slightly waving the file.

"Hey - the testing results are back from Forensics."


	10. Chapter 9 : Conclusions

Chapter 9:

"What is it?"

"It's a antipsychotic, specifically given to schizophrenic patients. It was prescribed by a Dr. Monica Lace – this is the school psychologist. We tried to reach her to question her about the medication, but we weren't able to reach her so far."

They had expected it – the moment Samantha had found the pills and had anounced her suspicion that this wasn't a simple nonprescribable medication to calm someone. The suspicion had been confirmed however, which minimized the possible reasons for Miranda's disappearance. But it didn't mean anything positive after all.

She was ill, severely mentally ill and there was no chance to predict how severe her state was and in which way it was intefering with her actions and decisions. The only person being able to help with that was a psychologist – the psychologist Miranda had been talking to, but she was not available by now.

"Did she take the pills after all?"

"Yes, for at least the past eight days."

"The psychologist from school talked to Miranda about two weeks ago...?"

"Yes, she did and the date of prescription is also 12 days ago."

"She stopped taking them."

"For whatever reason, but she did most definitely."

"Which means the effects of her illness probably came back much more intense then. The medication kept it at bay for a few days, but when she stopped taking it she was forced to cope with the full range of psychological consequences."

Possibilities to explain Miranda's disappearance were narrowing down to one probable outcome right now – the one outcome nobody had wanted to happen. But taking all the facts and evidence into consideration, there weren't many more explanations that were justifiable.

"So what? She killed herself?"

There wasn't an easy answer to this question, maybe there wasn't an answer after all, for they definitely couldn't be sure what had happened. But right now all the evidence caused them to at least be pretty sure of what had happened to Miranda Thomas and that she had done it intentionally...

"Evidence is at least pointing to it, but that doesn't necessarily mean she killed herself. There's no suicide note, she didn't try to say goodbye to anyone... that would be pretty uncommon. For someone as troubled as Miranda Thomas seems to be and as much as she had to hide her true feelings, I would definitely expect from her to explain her motivation."

Jack was right however – most people killing themselves left a suicide note of some sort – giving their relatives and friends a chance to understand what made them do it. Especially in cases like this – where nobody seemed to have noticed any danger of a suicidal tendency, these notes were most common. Miranda Thomas hadn't left one, at least they hadn't found one so far, which was the one thing not fitting the picture the evidence had created. It at least meant that there still was a chance of finding her alive.

"Maybe she wasn't able to – I mean if she actually had been schizophrenic... Chances are that she hasn't been able to control her emotions, has been driven to do whatever she has done. That would explain the total lack of any note of explanation."

"We won't know about that until we had a chance to hear about the diagnosis from her school psychologist."

It once again narrowed down to the one thing they actually couldn't effort to do in their job – waiting. Unfortunatelly there wasn't much of any other chance – they couldn't force the psychologist to come back here immediately or to hand her files to them.

But it once again showed each and every one of them how less Miranda Thomas had meant to anyone, especially at that school – no friends, no teachers that were actually interested in her state – except for the class teacher maybe, but as she had admitted she hadn't seen much of a chance to help the girl in any way – and the psychologist. She of all of them seemed to be the one with the worst attitude towards Miranda – letting them wait for her, although she perfectly knew about the girl's weakened mental state.

Nobody cared for this young woman's life at this school. As Violet Shavers had put it – they would be happy to lose their strangest part, which they had done with the disappearance of Miranda. Although Violet definitely was a superficial young woman, her words had more truth in them, than anyone sitting at this conference table would want to admit...

"So she took her father's rifle, shot herself and that's it then."

"As I already said – we don't know for sure..."

"Not until there's a body."

"Look – I know it pretty much looks like this is work put into an already solved case, but there are still other possibilities. The disappearance of Miranda and the fact that the father's rifle is missing don't naturally have to fit together. Maybe she just ran away – we don't know that. I'm aware that evidence is pretty clear on what happened, but it's not the first time and it doesn't necessarily mean anything. So as long as we haven't found her, we go on searching."

His word clearly stated that they were dismissed for the moment, but that there was no chance to put this case on hold just because of strong evidence. It was their responsibility to find Miranda and as long as they hadn't they would go on searching for her. It was as easy as this.

As Jack was about to leave the main room to get back to his private office and then get home for today, he was held back by Danny who seemed to be in need to ask him something in private. Jack wasn't exactly sure why he hadn't already asked when they had still sat down all together, but he didn't mind that very much, but gave him the chance to do so.

"What is it?"

"Do you really believe we are going to find her alive?"

It was a very direct question, not leaving any chance for interpretation or whens and maybes. Danny was simply asking for his opinion and as he was the one with the diploma for psychology, he definitely was the most skilled person to ask that question to. However he didn't like to be asked about something that delicate in the way Danny had done. It left him with nothing more but yes or no for an answer.

Which definitely wasn't much of a choice. But being honest with himself he had to admit that – at least for himself and his very own believe – he had pretty much already made up his mind on this case. There was just too much evidence pointing into one and the same direction, which didn't leave much of any more room for interpretation.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that she commited suicide..."


	11. Chapter 10 : Last chances

Chapter 10:

It was three a clock in the morning when Martin was woken by the ringing of his cell phone beside his bed. He needed a few moment of adjustment before he even realized what was going on around him. The look at the digital numbers of the watch however caused him to sigh before he picked up the phone.

"Fitzgerald?"

"Agent Fitzgerald? This is Helen Shriver – I'm sorry to wake you that early, but my roommate informed me that you asked her to call you as soon as I would come back home."

It took some more moments to put the name he had just heard into a context. His brain was working a little slow at three a clock in the morning when just being pulled out of his sleep. But he wasn't really to blame for that particular weakness, which he probably shared with the whole rest of humanity.

The woman he was talking to however seemed like she was highly awake and – as she had told him – had just gotten home from her hiking trip. He actually hadn't expected her to call in that soon. But for the sake of Miranda Thomas it was actually a good thing she had done so.

"Uhm – yeah... as she probably told you, I'm with the FBI. We need to ask you a few questions about Miranda Thomas."

"Miranda? What happened to her? Is she alright?"

Martin felt almost surprised by the reaction. There actually seemed to be one person in the world who cared at least a little bit for Miranda Thomas. She was the first they came up to meet with however – well, except for the girl's father. But as eager as the young woman seemed about helping them, he really didn't want to question her all on the phone.

"I cannot tell you right now, but I would like you to meet with me and another agent at our office in downtown Manhattan. Is that okay with you?"

"I'm fine with that. I could come over immediately if you want me to..."

She definitely cared for Miranda, seeming to understand that whatever had happened to her, the fact that FBI was involved pointed to the conclusion that losing time on this matter wasn't much of an option. And as he was already awake it seemed like a good idea. Waking Jack in the middle of the night however, wasn't a thing he really wanted to do.

"That's okay – could you be there in about 45 minutes?"

"I'll be there."

The young woman hung up on him and gave him a chance to yawn deeply before he picked up the phone once again, dialing Jack's number and informing him about the call he had just received. He seemed grumpy, but Martin had expected nothing else. He shared Martin's opinion about the young woman who had been willing to call and come over for a questioning in the middle of the night – she definitely cared for Miranda Thomas.

Meeting the NYU student almost an hour later as she was sitting in Jack's private office, they found themselves looking at a tall, slim, darkhaired woman with green eyes and a pretty dark skin colour. Taking the fact into consideration that she had just come back from a hiking trip there wasn't much of a surprise about that.

She seemed pretty much awake for the time of the morning – better said middle of the night – that it was and was actually looking pretty much better than the two federal agents she had gotten out of bed due to her return. She seemed slightly nervous – but taking into consideration where she just was, neither was this much of a surprise.

"Miss Shriver – what was your relation with Miranda Thomas."

"Would you please first tell me what is going on? What happened to her? Is she okay?"

"She's missing. She didn't show up for school two days ago and nobody has seen her since."

"Oh my gosh – I had no idea. And you haven't any idea where she might have gone to?"

"No, not so far. We were actually hoping that you might be able to help us with that."

"Well – I don't know. Miranda and I got to know each other at a college course for psychology. She was a very interested student and we came to talk a lot after classes, even meet at the one or other spot privately for a couple of times. Actually we became pretty close friends after a while. She was telling me about her parents, trouble at school, stuff like that. But it all suddenly stopped."

"When?"

"Shortly after the last summer holidays. All of a sudden she stopped calling me and wouldn't answer my phone calls as well. I tried to get in touch with her, you know waiting at her home, taking her to school several times, but she wouldn't talk to me."

"Do you have any idea what might have happened to her?"

"I'm not sure... I mean there were signs for a psychological disorder, but I'm just a student so it's really just a guess. I cannot say anything for certain."

"Miss Shriver – Miranda was medicated with an antipsychotic that is especially used on schizophrenic patients. Does that fit your guess?"

The young woman's face seemed to somehow enlighten by the question, although the general emotion of concern wouldn't leave her features. But obviously she had been of exactly the same professional opinion as the school psychologist.

"Yes, yes it does. It was exactly what I thought. So she luckily has seen a therapist... But what made her run away or whatever she did then?"

"She stopped taking the medication."

"Oh good lord – no she didn't? I mean she could've done almost everything to herself if she stopped doing so. She's most definitely a danger to herself then."

"We are very well aware of that fact. Miss Shriver, did Miranda ever mention some sort of hiding place, a place where she would go to if she wanted to run away?"

"No, not really. She was complaining about her mother and some of the pupils at her high school, but she never talked about running away or hiding somewhere. Well and after that incident in the summer she stopped talking to me after all..."

"Do you have any idea what caused her sudden change?"

"I really don't know. The only thing I can think of is that boy, she used to have a crush on. But I don't recall his name."

"Lukas Wilson?"

"Yeah – that was it. She however called him Luke. Anyways – I was asking her about him after summer holidays when I was driving her to school and she reacted pretty violently, yelling at me and telling me to keep my nose focused on my own stuff... I never before had experienced her like that."

"Alright. Thank you Miss Shriver, you've been a great help."

She nodded, got up from the chair she was sitting at and shook the hand Jack was offering her. Then she made her way to the door, leaving the office. Martin and Jack however stayed seated until Helen Shriver was out of hearing range before Martin started to ask.

"What do you think?"

"I think Lukas Wilson has been lying to us. He didn't just tease Miranda – she wouldn't have reacted that way if it would be that simple. There must have been something else, something way more grave. There's no other explanation for her sudden change, no explanation for her mental trauma."

"So what do you think it was?"

"I don't know, I really don't. But Lukas is going to tell us, if he wants to or not..."


	12. Chapter 11 : The shooting

Chapter 11:

It happened all of a sudden and without any warning – nobody had expected it, nobody had even imagined this to happen. There had been a thousand probable ways of outcomes to this case, to the disappearance of Miranda Thomas, but nobody had believed in this to even be possible.

Miranda Thomas had vanished and all of their investigation had lead them to the result, the one conclusion – she rather had been killed or committed suicide. Nobody of the team – after three days of search without any progress to find the girl – still had much faith to find her, at least not alive. Right now they were simply going on, to hopefully find her corpse to give her parents a chance to properly bury their child and start to grieve.

Jack had sent Sam and Danny back to Miranda's school, to talk to the school's psychologist. Her class-teacher had informed them earlier Miranda had been forced to go there several times, but they hadn't been able to talk to the psychologist until now. She had been out of the state for holidays till that morning. Jack hadn't had a chance to convince the principal to give Miranda's file to him, without the charge and presence of the psychologist. But this was their last chance to get some more useful information and therefor they had to wait for the woman to return – which cost them time, a lot of precious time, but the principal hadn't seemed to care about it very much. In the final analysis the missing teenager was one pupil less, that he had to worry about...

They were just about to cross the school-yard, getting nervous and suspicious looks from a group of teenage girls, sitting nearby, whispering to each other and giggling from time to time – as one of the girls' headw – a blonde kid about 14 years of age and probably pretty proud about her fashionable clothes and make-up, that made her look like "Barbie" had become alive for which she probably was heavily admired by her three friends -

seemed to explode in a fountain of blood, parts of flesh and splattering bones. The sound was awful, it couldn't even be described – it sounded unnatural, unreal and it left a sickening feeling of nausea.

The two federal agents – completely overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of that hostile situation, were barely able to react. What the hell had happened? The girl had a goddamn hole in her face – a shot, it must've been a shot – somebody shot her. Before there came any reaction – nore from the two agents, neither the girls sitting close to the dead teenager, now having stains of blood on their clothes and faces were able to react, to even get what had just happened – a second shot rang through the campus of the school.

This time a boy standing near the entrance doors– dark-haired, tall, muscular kind of type and probably a member of the high school's football team – screamed out in pain as he was hit to the stomach. He took a few steps, fell to his knees and pressed his hands on the bleeding wound, before he lost his balance and fell to the ground, pulling his knees to his upper body to protect the bleeding wound from any further damage and desperately trying to stop the pain.

All this happened like in slow motion, like time stood almost still and everything went down to a speed that was close to zero. But the moment was gone as realization and with that reaction came to the three surviving friends of the shot blonde teenager as they hysterically started to scream in complete horror and panic, but unable to do anything else. Unable to get out of the dangerous area they were in right now and find the way to a safer place.

For the moment they were fearfully hiding behind the low wall they had been sitting on, where their dead friends blood still was soaking the whole area in a deep red color, hoping to be out of the shooter's range.

Danny and Sam on the other hand – unfortunately – had a longer way to safety and the responsibility to take care of the injured and threatened civilians. The school ground had an oblong floor-plan. The main building – containing all the class-rooms lay on the right hand to the main entrance of the school ground and filled the whole length of it. To the left side there was the cafeteria in the back and the gym in the front. Between these to buildings there was a roof that shielded the area from rain. The middle part of the ground, between the two complexes on both sides was open space with a few places to sit at – like the area the three threatened girls now sat huddled together.

As the girl had been hit from the front – the shooter probably was somewhere on top or inside the main building, but they couldn't be sure of that – they couldn't see him. But as the main building had something like a little tower in the middle – kind of a private observatory for the astrology course – there was not much doubt about the shooter's position. That also meant, that the backside of the roof-covered surrounding between the gym and the cafeteria, was the safest place to go - the shooter couldn't look beneath it. For the moment – to piece together what to do about the situation and how to get it cleared the easiest and fastest way possible – that's where Sam and Danny were hiding, close to the exterior wall of gym.

"We need to get to the main entrance! We need to help that boy and for heaven's sake we need to warn the people in there!"

"I know – what time is it?"

"About 9.30 am – why?"

"First break is in about 15 minutes... I don't think anyone heard the shots – I mean I didn't hear the first one, the one killing the poor little girl, after all. In about 15 minutes there will be some hundred kids rushing out of that building – walking, talking, innocent targets!"

"And they probably don't even have the slightest idea and we can't cross the school-yard – I mean, we could try, but..."

"We would be dead before we were even close to the entrance... What the hell happened? Where did the shots come from? And who – the hell – fired?"

"I have no idea – goddamn it!"

"You got the principal's office number, don't you? We should call there, tell them what is happening outside, warn them about it. I guess we should call Jack – we need the cavalry at this place!"

They moved a bit closer to the edge of the roof, when Sam got out her cell to call the principal and Jack to inform them about the shooting – she couldn't get a connection underneath that goddamn steel roof. Sam winced as a third shot rang through the open space of the school yard. She looked past her co-worker, who was standing right in front of her, frantically trying to detect where the shots had been fired at, who had been injured this time.

"Sam..."

Danny addressed her, probably interested to know what she was seeing, if she could detect anything. She didn't really drew her attention towards him right now, but was focused on the scene in front of her. But there was nothing to be seen, nobody had crossed the goddamn school yard. But she had no idea what kind of a weapon the shooter was using, had no idea how far the bullets were going. Maybe the shooter even was able to reach that far to injure the arriving students at the parking space right behind them, behind the school grounds left side.

"I can't see anything."

She was surprised by the sudden pressure as she felt his hands on her shoulders and his full weight on her. Anger rushed over her as she was disturbed in her concentration for the second time in not even a minute. What the hell was wrong with him? She shot him a warning, annoyed look and was about to fix her eyes back on the school-yard in front of her, when she detected the look in his eyes and the expression on his face – confusion and disbelief. She rested her eyes on his face, trying to read what was wrong with him.

"Sam..."

He repeated and before she even had the chance to answer or ask that desperate question being stuck in her throat, ask him, what was wrong with him, he lost his balance, falling against the exterior wall of the gym with his back and slowly sliding down into a sitting position. Sam was unable to react, her difficulties already began with understanding what was just happening, believing that the scene in front of her eyes was reality.

Her eyes – still fixed on her co-worker – looked up the wall. A sensation of fear and helplessness rushed through her as she saw stains of blood on it. She knew now why she hadn't seen anything out there on the school-ground, she knew why Danny had been disturbing her, she knew who had been injured – the bullet had hit him.


	13. Chapter 12 : Informing Jack

Chapter 12 :

Jack was at his office scanning – once again – through the evidence they had on Miranda's disappearance. He knew it was a pretty hopeless task – he had done this over and over again – he wouldn't find anything new. He wasn't even sure why he was doing it after all – in the end it was just something to do, something to keep his mind working and seek for some hope...

Yet he still had himself entangled in his task some way deeper than he had actually wanted, for he was disturbed – causing him to wince slightly – as the phone on his desk rang. Getting ripped out of his thoughts, he unwillingly picked up the phone and stated his name.

"Malone?"

There was silence on the end of the other line, longer than it would've been usually. Long enough to make him feel slightly impatient. He was about to piece some harsh words together and get a good chance to end this call and get back to his work, when the silence suddenly ended.

"Jack, this is Sam."

Something about her voice made him rise in his chair and listen extremely closely to her words. He didn't like her tone – the signs of desperation and fear in her voice. Whatever she had called him for, he definitely wouldn't like what she would be telling him. But she hadn't said anything else, like she didn't know how to find words and now she was still waiting for his reaction.

"What is it?"

He asked in a soft tone, forgetting all about his slight frustration as he had been interrupted some seconds earlier. His complete concentration was up to Samantha and to the hope that she would give him some information, would tell him what was wrong and why she had called him. But still silence lay between them as she didn't seem able to respond in first place. He was just about to try again as she finally chocked out a few words.

"We have been attacked..."

These four little words were letting about a million questions appear in Jack's mind and he wanted to ask at least ten of them at a time. How could this have happened? Where did it happen? Who had done it and why? But right now he had one most urgent question at hand and it hadn't taken the slightest effort to stick to that one first.

"Are you both alright?"

Once again there was a moment of silence and it seemed to last even longer then it had when she had taken her time to tell him about the actual events. Maybe he was just paranoid or too overeager to know about the current situation. But he was pretty sure what her silence meant, pretty sure how to interpret it.

"No, we're not. Danny's injured – he was shot, Jack..."

"What the hell happened down there – you were simply supposed to question that school's psychologist!"

He hadn't been able to control his emotions any more. It was not like he was angry with his two agents. He was just concerned and he needed to find out how the situation had occured. He hadn't meant to yell at Samantha, he hadn't meant to disturb her, but he simply had lost control for a short while and now it was too late to still take the tone of his words away. But luckily she didn't seem to care much.

"I'm not absolutely sure. We were just about to cross the school yard to get to the main entrance as we passed by a group of teenage girls. And all of a sudden and without any warning one of them was shot through the head. The poor girl was dead immediately. We tried to get to a safer place, but we obviously hadn't been out of the shooter's range. Another boy was injured, who was standing at the main entrance. The third bullet had hit Danny to his back. I guess the shooter must be some way above. I highly suggest it's the schools little observatory the shots came from. Since that moment everything's calm – there haven't been any more shots."

Silence fell between them as she ended her report about the earlier events. Jack was still trying to piece this together. He was asking himself what it meant – it couldn't actually be a case of very bad luck. That in the very same school a young teenage girl just disappeared, another one had now lost his mind and temper and started to kill the people around him...

He hadn't even realized he had been taking his time, but obviously he had stayed silent for a while, not gigving any more words to Samantha for she had started explaining again.

"I already called an ambulance, but they told me they won't get here... Seems like someone from the principal's office already called police. They're getting the whole area closed up for public as long as they don't know about the shooter. They won't let anyone through... You need to help us down here! We need that ambulance!"

He changed subjects, hoping to cool her down with it and make her lose the desperation still clinging in her voice. She wouldn't be able to tell him anything usefull if she started to get hysterical. He needed her to stay absolutely calm and think. He just hoped he was about to achieve that.

"How is he?"

"I don't know Jack – I'm not a doctor..."

She could hear her take a few steps and lower her voice to a whisper. He knew what she had done – she had gotten out of Danny's range so he wouldn't hear her talk, he wouldn't hear her give her opinion to Jack and he already considered that a pretty bad and alarming sign.

"I'm not sure Jack, but he doesn't look too good. I mean his still conscious and actually not in a lot of pain... But that's what worries me the most – he was shot goddamn it – he should be. I guess he's in some kind of a shock and there's nothing I can do about it. He needs a doctor and a hospital – someone to properly take care of him. The sooner, the better."

"This is no event of a federal matter – it doesn't fit into our authorities... I can't just go there and intervene with the business of NYPD, it's not our case. There's not much I can actually do!"

He didn't know why, but he felt like he had said something extremely stupid. He hadn't said anything untrue or wrong, but still he felt this way. Maybe it was that silence Samantha was keeping up, like she was preparing to tell him something really grave, something that would make him change his mind.

"Jack, I believe it couldn't concern our matters any more..."

He had already seen it coming. He had known she would be insisting against better knowledge, because this was about someone being injured they all cared about. But it wouldn't change the facts – he couldn't do anything against police's decisions – having an injured agent of his involved or not. He just needed to convince Sam about this.

"Look Sam, I know that you care, but..."

"It's not about that! I mean... sure it is, but that wasn't what I'm trying to say..."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I believe it's Miranda who's shooting, I believe she's taking some kind of revenge..."


	14. Chapter 13 : Talking to the psychologist

A.N.: Thanks for all the very nice reviews – I really apreciate it. You people make my day!

Chapter 13:

Jack hung up the phone and remained seated for a few moments. There had been a lot of things to come to terms with in that phone call he had just had – he was forced coping with a most definite wrong opinion about Miranda Thomas and an injured agent, who wouldn't get medical atention as long as the situation in that High School wasn't cleared.

Time was running against them on this matter and they still didn't know about Miranda's mental state. As Danny and Sam wouldn't have a chance to question the psychologist face to face any more, he had to do this right now on the phone. He was sure – taking the situation into consideration – the woman would for once since the girl's disappearance be cooperative.  
He left his private office, entering the main room and approaching Vivian's desk.

„I need the phone number of the school psychologist's office at High School."

Vivian frowned by his wish, giving him a startled look. He had known he wouldn't pull

through this without telling the rest of the team right here and now. He had simply wished to not waste time on this matter by recalling what had happened to Danny and Samantha. He needed to get that psychologist on line – the sooner the better. But Vivian however wouldn't let him get away like this.

"Didn't you sent Danny and Samantha to question her?"

"I did – but there have been complications. Sam just called me, telling me that a shooting occured at the High School, she suspects it's Miranda shooting."

Concern appeared on her face – mixed with signs of surprise, which Jack was completely able to understand. Nobody of them had actually expected Miranda Thomas to still be alive, but to have killed herself. All of a sudden she was very much alive shooting at her fellow students...

"Are they alright?"

"No they are not... Danny's injured."

Vivian didn't say anything else, but Jack could see the concern on her face grow by his revelation. She did what he had wanted her to do none the less, scanning through the evidence on Miranda Thomas and finally finding the phone number to the psychologist's office, which she handed to him.

"Thanks Viv."

He turned away, without giving her another chance of questioning him about the incident at the High School and went back to his private office, closing the door behind him. He dialed the number to the office and got a reaction by first ring. The voice he was confronted with seemed at the edge of hysteria however.

"Who is this? What do you want from me?"

"Dr. Lace – this is Agent Malone, I'm with the FBI. I need to ask you a few questions about Miranda Thomas..."

"What for? I can't talk to you right now. There's a shooting appearing at our school right now. Somebody shot at least two of our students!"

"I'm aware of that. Which is why I need to talk to you."

"I repeat once again – what for?"

"Because it's Miranda Thomas who shot at that two students and at one of my agents as well."

He had rather managed to impress or to surprise her or probably it was a mixture of both things. She didn't seem to have even thought of the possibility of Miranda being the one shooting and taking revenge for something.

"What do you want to know?"

"What did you diagnose Miranda Thomas with?"

"That's a bit difficult to explain..."

"Don't worry Dr. Lace – I got a psychology diploma myself. I will understand."

"I diagnosed her with paranoid schizophrenia."

"Based on what evidence?"

"Based on what she told me... that she was feeling followed, that she was afraid of being alone and that it occured to her like someone was alway watching her. She never said it directly but I believe she didn't just imagine that things, but actually saw or at least heard them."

"And you prescribed her a antipsychotic."

"Yes I did – she wouldn't be a danger to anyone as long as she took them."

"Well, she stopped."

"I assume that would explain why she is killing her fellow students right now."

Jack didn't like the way this woman was talking about Miranda's illness and the final result of it. She didn't seem to feel responsible about it in any way after all. But she hadn't seemed that much interested from the begining of this investigation... He however couldn't keep his voice from getting harsh as he went on questioning her.

"What do you think caused her illness."

"I don't know, but whatever it was – it must've been the most emberassing and violent experience she had been forced to cope with in her whole life."

Although she didn't much seem to know anything else about Miranda's psyche, she was definitely right with her suspicion. He had already come to that conclusion the day before when hearing about the medication Miranda had received and this morning his believe had been confirmed by Helen Shriver's testimony. Whatever had happened to Miranda – Lukas Wilson was somehow involved in it.

"Thanks, Dr. Lace. You have been a help."


	15. Chapter 14 : Hospitals

Chapter 14:

Jack was absolutely sure that there had been some physical release for Miranda's psychological reaction. From what the psychologist had just hinted and implied he was pretty sure the girl had rather been harrassed or attacked. He didn't know that for sure, but he strongly suggested that one of the hospitals in the closer surrounding would be able to help him with that.

He knew it was just a reaction by feeling, but first thought was the best in most cases – anyways he didn't have a lot of options. He needed a solution for this messed up situation they were in, needed to understand why Miranda had reacted like this. He needed something to get a hold on her and make her stop. Something to get Sam and especially Danny out of there as soon as ever possible – time was the one thing they didn't have on this.

Right know they were sitting in relative silence, frequently dialing numbers of hospitals in the surrounding area and hoping to find something that would lead to any new evidence about Miranda, anything that would help them understand what she was doing.

They were doing this monotone task for some way more than two hours now and still they hadn't been lucky with anything. None of the people they had been talking to, had been able to help them and from the expression on their faces it was plain to see how they grew more and more desperate. It was Vivian, who broke through that face's expression and made the other two men wince.

„I found her!"

She was giving a triumphant and slightly tired smile to the rest of the team, which actually just contained Martin and Jack. But she immediately had their attention. They were both looking up from their list of hospitals they still had lying in front of them, hoping to find any clue of what had happened to Miranda.

"St. Andrews Memorial – that's about six miles out of town. It's pretty far away from both her school and her home, but they got a file about a girl named Miranda Thomas. Her age and general description also fits..."

"We actually don't have very much to lose on this. Will they send us a copy?"

"No – the nurse I talked to actually hadn't been very cooperative. She said she couldn't give out any more detailed information – not without permission from a doctor. I guess we will have to go there."

"Alright Viv – take Martin with you and get to that hospital – it at least is a chance. Let's just hope it's what we're searching for..."

Viv shot him a slightly interested and somehow concerned gaze and he knew – although he was standing behind him – Martin's view at him wouldn't differ that much from the one he was getting right now. She seemed to think about something and he was pretty sure what it was about.

"So – where are you going to?"

"I'm gonna get to Miranda's school and hopefully I will be able to convince police, that she actually is the shooter. Maybe I'll get a chance to talk to her. We need to talk her out of this, but I need something to get a hold on her, some proper reason why she is doing this. So you better hurry with that hospital."

Jack got up from his chair besides the phone to get to his private office, grabbing the keys for his car and leaving to get to the school grounds. He was pretty sure he couldn't do much or he at least would've a hard time achieving something. But Sam had been right with her words – this was actually their case and they were responsible for getting Miranda back – unharmed at it's best. He was willing to quarrel with authorities at school to achieve that.

Vivian and Martin on the other hand had a some way longer ride to where they were supposed to go and their task definitely wouldn't be much easier. As the nurse already hadn't been very helping, the doctor in charge probably wasn't any better. Of course this was a matter of pretty great importance and they had a really good reason, but in the end giving a patient's information to anyone wasn't allowed. It was an ethic basis and mostly the doctors were extremly uneasy and very much incooperate when it came to giving information to them.

It would be a matter of convincing, a matter of making the doctor see this was actually urgent. It wouldn't change anything about the facts – it still meant to chose between the less of two evils, but they couldn't keep that decision from them. They actually couldn't leave any decision to them – they needed this information, desperately.

They arrived at the hospital about 40 minutes later, directly heading to the nurse's desk at E.R. Vivian had been talking to her before – she had been the one, who had told her she couldn't get the information for her. Right now the nurse seemed pretty open for any suggestions – she was giving a polite smile to them as they approached.

"What may I do for you?"

She asked, sounding as politely as her smile had been. But it didn't stay on her face, not for long. Exactly up to the moment when Vivian showed her badge to her and identified herself.

"I'm Agent Johnson, this is Agent Fitzgerald – we already have been talking to each other about an hour ago. I had been asking you about a patient, Miranda Thomas. We're here to see her file..."

A cold, unwilling expression had appeared on the nurses face. Probably the same expression she had worn on her face when Vivian had demanded her wish at the phone earlier. It seemed like she wouldn't be any more lucky. But to her surprise the nurse didn't close in completely.

"The doctor's office, who has been in charge of that patient is on the second floor down the left corridor. Room number 11. She is the one to decide about this."

"Thanks."

They left the nurse's desk and went down the E.R.'s corridor to the elevators, getting upstairs to the doctor's office. Vivian knocked slightly and received a short pressed answer from inside. As they entered they found themselves confronted with a mid thirty year old brown haired woman, who was almost hidden behind the load of paperwork on her desk. She looked up in surprise as they entered.

"Can I help you?"

Once again Vivian fetched her badge and showed it to her, giving her a small smile too.

"We hope you can – we're with the FBI and we need to have a look at the file of Miranda Thomas. I already had been talking to the nurse down at E.R. on the phone, but she told me I needed to come here in person."

The doctor's expression had hardened on her face as she looked at Vivian now. One could literally see herself closing in as she prepared to answer to the federal agent right now.

"Well, then she didn't inform you correctly. Because we don't give out any patient's information to anybody – being here in person or not."

"I know you don't usually do this, doctor, but we need these information urgently. The patient we are talking about – Miranda – she disappeared one and a half days ago and we hope her hospital file may help us to find a reason for her disappearance."

"I see that it is urgent, but I don't make the rules. This is hospital politics and I'm not allowed to break them..."

"I do understand that, but I guess I made my point clear – it's a very urgent matter."

"I'm sorry – as long as you don't have an official search warrant which allows you to invade one of my patient's privacy... I won't give that file to you."

Vivian knew the younger doctor wouldn't help her if she didn't have a very good reason and if she wouldn't explain her motivation a little more detailed. Until now she hadn't given much of a motivation to the doctor to help her. Therefore she took a step closer to the her, lowering her voice and telling her the reason for her actual urgency.

"Doctor, this is very, very important. Miranda Thomas is about to take revenge on whatever had happened to her... and we have to know about it, we have to! She started shooting pupils at her school and we need to find a way to get a hold on her. We need your help!"

Vivian hoped and prayed that she had achieved something with her desperate speech, that she had found a way to reach the incooperate doctor. Still it didn't actually seem like this, as the doctor got up and turned away from the desk, turning her back on them. But to Vivian's surprise she went to one of the cupboards, opened it up and grabbed a file out of it.

"Alright."

Finally and with an expression on her face and in her eyes that would have chilled everything like ice, the doctor handed Miranda's file to Vivian. She put it down on the desk in the doctor's office and opened it up. She had seen files like this before – too many times before – and therefor she didn't need much time to scan through the information. What she was reading in there, what she was finding out, just left one justifiable comment for her to anounce.

"Oh good lord..."


	16. Chapter 15: The truth

A.N.: Sorry for the extra long delay, but I had been very busy with my final exams coming up at college and afterwards I have been on vacation in Prague. But now I'm back again and ready to give you an update :-). Please R+R.

Chapter 15:

Some miles away, into the city, Jack was still behind the barricade, arguing with the authorities from police about policy and the right way to handle the situation. He hadn't been very succesful, but at least he had achieved to have been allowed to stay and give suggestions. Right now he was listening to the police captain arguing with his superior, as his phone rang. He picked it up.

"Jack, this is Viv. We are still at the hospital - we had a chance to have a look at Miranda's file..."

Jack didn't like the fact that she was stopping – it was no good sign. At least it meant that he probably had been right, but that wasn't actually good news. He wouldn't find out, if he wouldn't take the chance and ask his co-worker about her progress.

"So what did you find out?"

Once again this day, there was a long silence at the other end of the line, which actually proved him right, as he had already believed. But still he hadn't actually heard anything about what Vivian had found out. But she didn't leave him in doubt any longer as she found the courage to finally break the silence.

„The girl has been violated, Jack. Brutally raped from what the doctor just told me."

"I have been crosschecking with the other evidence we have... Lukas Wilson's family lives pretty close to this hospital, Jack..."

"You believe it was him?"

"I'm pretty sure. I mean it all makes sense – she had a crush on that boy and she was easy to use. She was too shy and too less liked to insist against him or to tell anyone about it. She probably was the most happiest girl on earth, when he invited her in."

"It at least sounds reasonable..."

"And it would explain the change in her behavior, too. Her closing in, not talking anymore, locking herself in her room, the medics she took – it really makes a lot of sense.

And Lukas is at school right now – he's the perfect target for her!"

"Alright thanks, Viv – I know we can't be sure about it, but taking into consideration what Sam and Danny told me about their interview with the Wilson boy... It's most probable, it's a chance at least."

"What do you want to do about it?"

"I'll try to get the boy to a phone. As I can't go in there right now, he – literally – needs to come to me. I need to talk to him. He's probably pretty afraid right now and if he has any sense of decency he probably feels guilty. Maybe a few hidden accuses and hints are already enough to get through his defense. I need him to tell the truth. He's our best chance to end this messed up situation right now."

"Alright Jack – we'll be heading back to the office. Please call as soon as there's any progress about the situation at school."

"I will."

And with that he hung up the phone. If anyone of the busied policemen would've looked at him right now, they had probably winced. He had a decisive, almost grim expression on his face, an expression which wouldn't tolerate the word "no". This was exactly what he had intended as he approached to the police captain leading the operation right now.

"Agent Malone, I already told you..."

The captain stopped dead in the middle of the sentence as he turned around to face Jack and tell him once again, he should stop intervening with the situation. But he never got to finish his demand – for he had been impressed by the expression on Jack's face, who immediately took it as a chance.

"I need to get a line in there. I need to talk to one of the pupils. Maybe he can help us..."

"How would that be?"

The captain didn't even try to sound interested. It was pure politeness and a slight respect for the federal agent, which made him ask the question anyway. But Jack didn't even care about the tone in his voice, he didn't give in to that.

"Miranda – the shooter – she had a crush on that boy, but he rejected her and his girlfriend frequently told her to back off. We're most likely dealing with some kind of lover's grief. She's just a teenager and she probably found no other way to cope with it. It's a drastic measure, but it's the one possible reason I see."

"Let's just for a moment say I'd believe in this psychological shit... What would that help us, what do you want the boy for?"

"I want him to talk to her – he's the one person she is in love with, the person she desperately longs for. He may convince her to stop..."

The captain wore an astonished expression on his face and Jack couldn't believe he would actually give in. He himself had been talking nonsense since the conversation had started – Miranda didn't long for Lukas. She simply wanted for him to pay, pay for her pain, pay for her suffering...

"Alright Agent Malone – I don't think we will lose anything by that... It's worth a try. I will get you a line inside school. Let's just hope this works..."

Obviously he had managed to impress the police captain even more than he had believed in first place. He had been pretty sure they would go on debating about procedure and competences for some time longer. Well, it was a good sign after all – the less time they wasted the better.

The police captain in the meantime, who constantly had been on the phone with the principal's office asked them to get Lukas Wilson on line, assuring them there was no danger to them as long as they stayed inside the school building.

It took some more minutes, but finally the police captain was talking to someone again, taking a few moments – probably to explain the reason for his call and then signaling Jack to come over. The voice on the other end of the line – Lukas Wilson – seemed shaky, obviously deeply afraid from the events that had washed over him.

"Lukas, my name's Jack Malone – I'm with the FBI."

"What do you want?"

"I need you to tell me about Miranda, Lukas."

"Miranda? What's this got to do with her?"

So the Wilson boy had no idea, he hadn't even suspected it – in a situation like this nobody would be able to play tricks. The boy was too honestly concerned and threatened to do that. But maybe confronting him with the information Jack had, telling him that Miranda was shooting at them would shock the boy enough to make him confess in first place.

"Miranda is shooting at the pupils of your school, Lukas. She is the one threatening you."

Silence and a sharp inhaling sound as Lukas Wilson seemed to be in need to catch his breath. But he wouldn't say anything, not a single word as he tried to regain his composure. This hadn't worked out and somehow the boy managed to even calm himself right now. Probably because the uncertainty about what was going on had just vanished.

"Why would she do this?"

"Maybe because of something you did?"

"I, I didn't do anything to her. I already told your guys that I didn't."

The boy was denying and going on questioning him this way, staying friendly and polite – giving only hints to what he had done without telling him he actually knew about it already – wouldn't work. Well – just that actually he didn't know anything after all. Evidence was pointing to Lukas being the one who had raped Miranda, but they didn't have prove on this one. He needed to try in another way, find other words to make him confess.

"Lukas, I know what you did – I know why Miranda is so angry and desperate. How could you be doing that, boy? How could you be hurting her like that? Did you even care about her?"

"What the hell are you talking about! I didn't do anything."

Denial – over and over again. But something about the boy's voice had changed, he didn't seem that confident, that sure about himself any more. He was doubting, doubting that the crime he had commited had been undetected, doubted that Jack wasn't just playing tricks on him. There was an opening – Jack simply had to go for it.

"I know that you made her suffer, I know why she is killing those people. It's all because of you, because of what you have done!"

The break through – or break down in Lukas' case - came quickly and most unexpected. Jack had actually expected this to take some – precious – time longer, but he was lucky. The Wilson boy was all of a sudden bursting out in words – words that were finally true.

"Oh good lord – stop! I'm sorry, okay? I never meant to hurt her. She was just so shy and naive – so easy to get. I just couldn't resist, I couldn't get out of it. It was just too easy, for I knew she never would've said a single thing. I had felt safe. But holy shit – I never thought she would come up with something like this. I couldn't even imagine her being capable of such a thing. I didn't mean to get anybody hurt, I didn't mean to. God, I'm so sorry..."

Jack could hear the boy's voice crack and then fade as he breathed in heavily, probably trying to fight back tears. He had just revealed himself, he had just given in to Jack's hints and accuses and had told him the truth. Jack's voice was but a whisper as he spoke to Lukas again, getting a final confession from him.

"You raped her, Lukas."

"Oh good lord – forgive me... Yes I did..."

Silence fell between them as Jack tried to think of something to end this phone call. He didn't want to talk to Lukas Wilson any longer. He would be judged and sentenced for his crime soon enough. Right now, that he had prove, he needed to get a hold on Miranda.

"I want you to end the call now Lukas. Maybe it's not too late, maybe there's still a chance for us to convince Miranda. Just stay where you are and don't do anything stupid, boy!"

"Okay."

The next thing he heard was the line going dead as Lukas hung up the phone. Jack didn't even need to turn around – he could imagine what the face of the captain would look like and he didn't expect him to react any different. He probably would've felt the same way. Therefore he wasn't actually surprised as he started yelling at him.

"What the hell was that all about? You told me he was a crush of hers! But you never ever said a single word about rape! You were lying to me, goddamn it!"

Finally Jack turned around trying to stay calm and logically. He needed for the captain to cool his temper and have a rational conversation with him. He needed to talk to Miranda right now and he couldn't do that without the police captain's permission.

"I'm sorry, but there was no other way. It was just a suspicion and what I needed to have first was some prove, a confession. I couldn't just openly accuse that boy of a crime he maybe hadn't even committed. But actually I was pretty sure..."

"Alright, alright – what are we going to do now?"


	17. Chapter 16 : A hold on Miranda

Chapter 16:

It had taken some more fussing and fighting but finally the police captain in charge had given permission to Jack to try to reach Miranda. She was probably having her cell phone with her as her parents had told them that it wasn't among the things left in her private room at home. It was worth a try after all.

He had punched the number into his own cell, waiting for any answer, but there hadn't been. He had tried over and over again, only reaching her mail box, but never getting an actual answer. But he wouldn't give up – the girl was probably scared half to death and completely overwhelmed with the situation she had maneuvered herself into. Answering her cell phone probably was one of her last worries.

The police captain however had started giving him uneasy and impatient looks some minutes ago already. Jack didn't react to him, didn't care about him. He was absolutely sure that Miranda was up there in that tower and that this was the only way he could reach her.

Finally – after almost twenty minutes of trying – there was a reaction. He was getting a free sign as somebody answered the call. There was silence on the other end of the line for a few more moments before a shaky voice of a young woman answered the phone.

"Who is this?"

"Miranda – my name is Jack Malone, I'm with the FBI. We're searching for you. I want you to not hang up on me alright?"

She didn't answer him and he hadn't expected her to, but at least she hadn't immediately hung up on her. There was still a chance for him to reach her and make her listen to her. But he needed to be extremely careful. If he would scare her off by whatever he was telling her, he wouldn't be able to help her to get out of this situation alive.

If he would lose her, could not make her listen any more, then police would be forced to get inside the building and take her down – for the safety of everyone else in there. And Jack himself was too much personally involved in this, caring for one of the injured victims and being responsible for getting Danny out of there alive as he could risk any further delay or any more shooting.

He needed to convince Miranda to give up – it was as simple as that. Just that in her mental state, in her desperation – finding the right words to achieve that was a very difficult task...

"Don't be afraid, Miranda, you don't need to talk to me, you don't need to tell me where you are. I just want you to listen to me... There are a lot of people who care for you and who deeply wish for you to come back home to them. Your father has been very upset about your disappearance, as has been your class teacher and your friend Helen from college... I won't force you to do anything that you do not want, I just want you to think about it, think about returning home..."

Still there was no reaction from her, he wasn't even sure she was actually listening to him. Taking the situation she was in into consideration, it wasn't much of a surprise. She had about a million other thoughts to occupy her mind with. He definitely was her smallest problem – but as long as he was still able to talk to her he had a chance.

"I do understand that you had a good reason for running away, Miranda. I know that you have been in trouble and that nobody was listening to you, I know that you feeled like nobody cared for you, but that's not true. I can prove it to you, but you have to come back home for it."

He could hear her breathing quicken as he talked to her, which told him two things – she was close to the phone and he had probably just managed to upset her. Which wasn't a good thing after all. He had no idea what she would be doing in her weakened state of mind if he would upset her.

"Miranda, please don't be afraid. I don't mean you any harm. I know it's hard to believe but I really just want to help you, I want you to feel safe. I already told you, you don't need to tell me where you are and I won't force you to come home, I just want you to consider it a possibility."

Her breathing seemed to calm down and he could hear her cross the room over and over again. She was thinking, desperately thinking about what to do next, how to react to his words and maybe even what to tell him. He needed her to pick up that goddamn phone, she needed to tell him that she was willing to give up.

He knew that by being sympathetic and telling her that he cared he maybe would be able to reach her trust, but it would take time. She had spent most of her life in hiding her true feelings and doing what others – especially her mother – expected from her. He wouldn't break through this that easily.

The only other thing he could do, the one other chance to get a hold on her, was a very risky thing. He could try to directly confront her with what he knew, with his knowledge about her reason for doing what she did up there in that school tower.

Of course he needed to be careful with his words, but he didn't have that many other options. And the more important thing he lacked of was time. He needed to finally find a solution to this problem and taking almost an hour on getting the girl on the phone and convincing her to even talk to her, wasn't the best way to get his injured agent out of the line of fire.

"Miranda – I do know what happened to you, I know what Lukas Wilson did to you. I know why you are doing this."

More moments of the unbearable silence were following his confession, but at least she didn't scream, her breath didn't quicken and she didn't end the call. She took her time, considering what to do now, thinking carefully. But then she decided – decided to answer.

„Hello?"


	18. Chapter 17 : Conditions get worse

Chapter 17:

Sam's tension and concern grew more and more every time she had a look at her co-worker's face. He grew paler with every minute and she could literally see the power, the will to fight die down more and more. His breathing felt somehow wrong to her – low and shallow as it was – but there was no wonder about that. No wonder, when taking the blood that had started to pool under him into consideration.

She hadn't even realized it at first, as the injury to his back had barely been bleeding after all. She didn't even have to put a lot of pressure to it to stop that bit of bleeding she had first seen. But something had changed – she didn't know how or why – but the situation had decreased. Maybe he had moved around too much or maybe the bleeding had been blocked by something at first... Whatever it was that had kept the blood away, it was gone – and - as the shooting - that pooling of the red warm liquid underneath him, happened all of a sudden.

Unfortunately – she had nothing but her bare hands to put pressure on the now steadily bleeding wound and that wasn't much of a help. She knew it probably enhanced the chance of further difficulties even more. Her hands weren't clean, not sterile and putting them to an open wound would higher the risk of infection to an extend she didn't even wanna think about. She didn't wanna think about any more complications right now. Her only concern was to keep Danny awake.

She couldn't keep herself from trembling and it was not some kind of a physical reaction to the psychological trauma she was put through. She simply felt cold, freezing cold. She had given her coat to Danny to keep him warm, although he forcefully had insisted against it. But she hadn't listened to him – she knew as long as she couldn't stop the bleeding, he was in desperate need to be kept warm. If he would fall in a state of shock it was probably over – she had no idea how she was supposed to react then. But it was just bitterly cold and she couldn't keep herself from shivering.

She suddenly felt his eyes on her, giving her a look full of empathy and concern. He definitely didn't like how she felt right now and she knew he felt sorry and slightly guilty for having her freeze like that. She knew what he would be doing next, knew it since she had felt his eyes on her. He weakly pointed to her coat lying on top of him and keeping the cold from him – a sensation Samantha desperately wished for to feel right now.

"You can have it back, Sam!"

She needed almost all her will and power to not agree to his proposal. She had been close to just saying yes, grab the coat from him and huddle herself inside of it, feeling the warmth again. But she needed to stay strong, she couldn't give up her will now – for Danny's sake. She managed to put a little smile on her face, although she was pretty sure that it looked harried.

"No, it's okay. You definitely are in a greater need than I am."

"Sam..."

"How do you feel?"

She interrupted him quickly, not willing to argue with him once again. She didn't have the power to do that again – her will of letting him keep her goddamn coat was at the lowest point already and if he would start insisting once again, she would actually take it back- no matter what.

"I dunno – I feel tired I'd say..."

Panic rose in her once again as he announced this few little innocent words. This just couldn't be happening – she was trying so hard – keeping him warm, stopping the bleeding and taking care of him as good as possible under the current circumstances, but still it wouldn't help. She could feel her shivering get more violently as it mixed with a reaction to the psychological burden. She wouldn't let this happen – neither to her, nor to him – she needed to stay strong. She ordered herself to calm down and lowered her voice to a whisper as she talked to him.

"Don't you fall asleep on me – you understand that. As tired as you feel, but I won't ever forgive you, if you're gonna fall asleep on me. Fight against it, you have to!"

She knew, that if he would actually fall asleep and would lose consciousness it wouldn't take long until any help would be too late. As long as he stayed with her, stayed awake, she still had a chance to assure him and there still was the chance to get him to a hospital and to a team of doctors, who would take care of his injury. As long as he was awake, she would keep her faith – it was as simple as that. And if he wouldn't, she had no idea what she was supposed to do then, how she would react.

"I'm gonna try..."

"You're not gonna try, you're gonna do it."

"Okay..."

He wasn't willing to insist against her, fight against her demands or even make a sarcastic comment about it. She didn't like that – it was unlike him and it assured her once again in her believe, that he was losing more and more of his strength and will. This happened all too quickly, hell – it wasn't supposed to happen after all. But she wouldn't let him die, no matter what she had to do or how long it would still take the medics to get here – she wouldn't allow him to die on her... His choked words pulled her out of her desperate thoughts.

"Sam?"

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"I can't..., I don't..."

His whispered words and the choked tone of them, immediately frightened her as she believed he was no longer able to properly breathe. If he wouldn't get enough air or in an even worse case, would stop breathing, there was nothing she could do for him, not really. Of course she could still help him with his breathing, but she knew for sure that he would be in desperate need of immediate medical attention then and that was a thing they wouldn't get. They wouldn't send even a single ambulance in here, before the situation wasn't cleared.

"Tell me what's wrong. Please, Danny – try to calm down and tell me what's wrong..."

Somehow she managed to calm him as the panic she had seen in his eyes before died down. But she didn't like what she saw next either – desperation seemed to rush over him and left that expression on his face. At least she could still hear him breathe – not as deep and regularly as she wanted him to, but at least deep enough to get air. That hopefully – and knowing that filled her with a blissful relief – wasn't the problem.

"I,..., I don't,..., I don't feel my legs. I can't move..."


	19. Chapter 18 : Talking to the girl

Chapter 18:

She had answered to him! Finally – after almost half an hour of trying to get her on the line, to convince her to talk to him – he had achieved his goal. He had reached her, had found a way through her defense line... But the real hard part of it was still to come, the challenge was still there.

Having the girl on the phone didn't really mean anything so far – it was a breakthrough that she was willing to listen to him, but he hadn't convinced her about anything right now, anything of importance...

That was the one goal he was aiming for. He needed her to understand that she was doing the wrong thing, that it wouldn't help her in any way and that she needed to stop. He needed to reason with her, needed to make her see her mistake, needed her to refind her conscience again, which told her that what she was doing right now – was deeply wrong.

But he wasn't even sure he would be able to achieve that. He had no idea what her state of mind was and if she – as the psychologist had informed him – was actually schizophrenic or even psychotic, it would be a very difficult task to made her listen to him after all. But there was a glimpse of hope and that was the fact, that she had picked up the phone...

He needed to be very, very careful right now – he neither was a psychologist nor a negotiator, though he had acted out both parts succesfully for a couple of times. But it was always a struggle. Every last word he said needed to be carefully considered. Any mistake could most likely end up in a catastrophy and would take more and more time to find a solution for the situation. Precious time, which they didn't have...

"Miranda, I want you to stay calm and not panic right now... I told you, you don't need to tell me where you are, because I'm already aware of where you are... I know that you are at your school."

"I had to do it, I'm sorry – it was the only chance."

She probably wasn't even aware of the consequences of him knowing that she was at the school shooting at the students or she had really listened to his suggestion and hadn't panicked. But for the moment and once again taking her mental state into consideration, she most likely just hadn't listened.

"I know Miranda, I know you didn't want to hurt anyone. I know you just wanted to make up for what happened to you..."

"What happened to me...? Nobody knows what happened to me!"

"It's okay, Miranda. Lukas confessed what he did to you, he will be sentenced for his crime, there will be justice for you. There's no more need for you to seek revenge on anybody. It's over now, girl. It's all okay."

"No – you don't understand. It's not, that's not the point. I had to do it, I couldn't stop it. It was the only way to get rid of them. I needed to get rid of them."

Now that one was new for he didn't actually know what she was talking about, what she was going for. Obviously Lukas Wilson hadn't been her only reason for shooting at the other students. There was some other reason, probably some even more deeply psychological reason. He needed to keep her talking about it, telling him what had caused her to do this, maybe it would help him to convince her to make her give up.

"These people you shot at are innocent, Miranda. You have to stop it. Just tell me that you are going to do it and we are getting you out of there unharmed. You don't need to worry, alright? It will be okay."

"You, you don't know what I am talking about, you don't know anything... This isn't about the students. I didn't mean to do anything, but I had to. I had to stand up against them, had to take courage..."

"Stand up against whom, Miranda?"

There was silence for a few moments as it seemed like she had expected him to actually know what she was talking about, what she was trying to make up for. She seemed surprised right then when she answered his question, like he had obviously asked a very stupid question.

"The voices – I wanted to get rid of the voices."

Now he had prove – it was definitely a psychological reason which had caused her reaction. As the school's psycholgist had assumed, Miranda was schizophrenic and hearing voices was definitely a sign for that. Which meant he needed to be even more careful with what he said to her.

She believed that he knew about the voices – she trusted him because of that believe. There was no chance he could ask her any question about it, he would lose her if doing so. And he didn't have much time – he needed to hurry in convincing her. For the sake of the injured students... and his two agents down there in the line of fire.

"Did it work, Miranda? Did you manage to get rid of the voices talking to you?"

Once again there was silence for a few moments. Like Miranda was closely listening to her surrounding for the voices to reappear. Of course he would hear nothing, but he couldn't even guess what Miranda was hearing. He winced when Miranda finally reacted to his question. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, screaming in desperation.

"No, no, no!"

He wouldn't hear anything else from her. The phone call was ended that very moment as Miranda probably threw the cell through half the room, smashing it against one of the walls. She had been angry, very very angry and Jack had no idea what she would do now...


	20. Chapter 19 : Decisions are hard to make

A.N.: Once again sorry for the extra long delay, but I just returned from Kenya yesterday

evening. So now you get the next three chapters. Please R+R.

Chapter 19:

Silence followed the ended call as Miranda was no longer in contact with them. They had lost her – probably not only for the moment, but permanently. She wouldn't get on the phone again and as she probably smashed it against a wall, there wasn't a chance even if she wanted to.

There was need to make a final decision now – they couldn't lose any more time on this matter. The SWAT team had been waiting to be sent to the scene of event for over the past hour and they were definitely necessary now.

However Jack wasn't sure about it, at least not completely. There was still a slight chance that Miranda would give up and get down from the tower. He didn't want her to get hurt, she hadn't deserved to. The one thing she needed from them was their help, not to be threatened to death or to be even shot.

He didn't get any more time to think about it for the chief of the police was approaching him once again. He was still angry with Jack, because of his decision to talk to Lukas and Miranda and Jack exactly knew what he wanted right now – a rightful decision, the decision which meant for the SWAT team to go in there.

„What are we going to do now?"

It was the one decisive question to find an answer to right now and actually he didn't get why the police captain was asking him after all. He wasn't in charge of this investigation and it hadn't had to be his decision after all. But as he had been the one talking to Miranda, he probably was more qualified to make a decision. Still it wasn't his investigation – at least not considering the current situation.

"It's your decision."

The expression on the police captain's face told him that this had been the very last answer he had wanted to hear from him. He seemed to have actually expected a decision from Jack, had wanted him to take over responsibility in this case, which he wouldn't do. However the other man wasn't willing to give up so soon.

"Look – you have been talking to her, you know what she was like, what her mental state is. Just tell me what you think."

He needed to be careful right now... Whatever he was about to tell him now would result in the decision that was made - and the fate Miranda Thomas would end up in. If anything went wrong he was absolutely sure the police captain would blame it on the information given to him, information he had received from Jack.

"She's definitely dillusional, but she was willing to talk to me and what's even more important – she was listening to me. She's suffering from a mental illness – that's definitely true, but she was able to control herself."

"But she hung up on you?"

The police captain was directly getting to the point – to a very crucial point actually. Jack knew exactly what he was trying to do – the captain wasn't really interested in his opinion, he just wanted someone to confirm the decision he had already made. He wasn't still thinking about it – he **would** sent that SWAT team in there – no matter what.

"That's true, but it doesn't necessarily mean anything. There has been no more shooting since she hung up the phone, so the fact that she ended the call doesn't mean she is going to hurt someone."

"Agent Malone – she yelled at you. She was yelling No´. What does that say about her mental state?"

He was really not willing to admit it, but the captain was right. The fact that Miranda had yelled - and he for himself was pretty sure that she didn't yell at him after all – pointed very much to the conclusion that something about her mental state had changed, that she had no longer been able to control the emotions, the mental illness caused her to have.

"It's possible that her illness caught up on her, that she was no longer able to control it."

"Would you consider her still a potential danger then?"

"As we cannot reach her and talk to her anymore, I really cannot answer that question. According to the school psychologist's record she has been a potential danger for the past eight months, but nothing ever happened..."

"Until now."

Why was he still questioning him after all? Jack really wished the police captain would finally stop his attempt of justifying what he was doing and just make his decision. He himself was slowly starting to lose his temper on this guy. There definitely were more urgent things for him to think of.

"You're right, until now she hasn't been a danger to anyone... Look I can't help you with your decision, it's not my investigation, it's yours. The only thing I can tell you is that she is mentally unstable and that I for my part cannot predict what she will do next. It's your part however to decide what to make of this."

The captain took some more long moments of chewing on his lips and thinking about the words he had just heard. Jack could somehow understand him – he had been in similar situations before and deciding something like this always meant to put lifes at risk, which definitely wasn't an easy thing to decide on. But as the police captain had already made up his mind even before they had started their conversation...

"Alright then – I'm sending SWAT in there. We don't know what she's going to do, we need to take her down."


	21. Chapter 20 : Still there Game obver

Chapter 20:

„Oh Miranda – poor girl…You really believed we were gone, that you could get rid of us that easily. Ts, ts, ts – you are even more stupid then you look, girlie."

"No, no, no! This can't be!"

Miranda screamed desperately, tears forming in her eyes. It couldn't be happening. She had made a decision, had been strong, had stopped to pity herself and had been courageous and still the voices were there, insulting her. She hadn't done anything wrong, she had acted against all the things the voices had accused her for, but they wouldn't leave her alone...

"Poor little baby – you have no idea, do you? Hoping so desperately to get away from us. But we won't leave you, we will stay. Did you actually believe your little attempt to break free would scare us off?"

She felt how her heartbeat was rising and how her hands started trembling. She couldn't cope – she couldn't live through another failure, through another time of not being able to stand up against her very own demons.

"Now stop this stupid thing and behave, honey. You are only making it worse – they are going to take you to a mental institution if you don't stop it. Treat you like a damn lunatic, you wouldn't want that, would you?"

She stopped dead in tracks, thinking about the words she had just heard... Treating her like a lunatic, like a person suffering from a mental illness... They would help her! They would make the voices go away! There was a chance for her, one more chance for her to break free and get rid of her attackers, constantly causing pain.

"Nobody will listen to you, girlie! They're going to pump you up with drugs and lock you in some cell. You're never going to get out again, never going to see anyone again. They're going to lock you up and then forget you... or maybe even worse!"

She shook her head violently, trying to ignore the voices, which were getting louder and more angry now, but were still as controlled as they always were. She knew it was of no use, it had never been – they wouldn't go away.

"They won't, nobody will hurt me. You are lying to me! It's all a lie!"

"Oh come on, Miranda! You shot your fellow students. You killed a girl. They won't let you out of here alive. What the hell were you thinking – that they would understand? Good god, you are even more stupid than you look like!"

"Stop! Stop it! Leave me be! Leave me alone!"

They were doing it again – laughing at her again, for about the millionth time. She couldn't do this any more, she just couldn't. She didn't have the power any more – the power of insisting and fighting. She had tried so hard, she had done everything she could to get rid of these voices but once again she had failed...

"Hush, hush, little girl. We told it to you so many times, you should know it by now. We will never go anywhere, you will never get rid of us!"

She could feel the tears rise in her eyes and she knew they would tease her and laugh at her and make fun of her even more if she couldn't hold them back. They wouldn't stop – they would never stop. Ever.

She could feel how her legs gave way under her as she was no longer able to control her emotions and let out the tears sitting behind her eyes. She couldn't help it. It was like in one of this soap operas – she slit down the side of the wall, sobbing violently and uncontrolably, the tears streaming down her face now.

She could feel the hot tears on her cheeks and feel the salt on her tongue. At times it had been a relieveing feeling, crying her pain out. But that had stopped one day – the day her constant companions had appeared – and she hadn't been happy since that day. She stopped dead in her tracks realizing this particular fact right now... She hadn't been happy for a long, long time.

Obviously she didn't deserve to feel that way. Otherwise she wouldn't be troubled and sad and depressed. Her life was somehow wrong, in a way she couldn't explain, hadn't even the slightest idea about why. She had tried hard to change it, had tried to break free, but it wouldn't work, no matter how hard she tried.

"Look at the little Miranda, at that poor excuse of a girl. She's crying again, like we haven't seen that one before. Mourning and crying about her miserable life. We are all so sorry for you – poor little baby, think you deserve something else don't you? You don't deserve anything Miranda – you need to finally get that fact!"

Listening to the voices for once since she heard them, caused her to snort. She already was one step further, she had already gotten that fact. She knew she didn't deserve it, she didn't deserve anything..."


	22. Chapter 21 : A final outcome

Chapter 21:

Maybe she was right and the cops out there would actually help her. Take her away from here unharmed and put her to a hospital where they would be able to help her. She knew she couldn't trust in the voices. For the whole time they had been there, they had never done anything but lie to and insult her.

But then again she had just hung up on that FBI agent in hysteria and she had been talking to herself. They probably considered her a security risk and would take her down as soon as she would leave this spot. They would shoot her without another word of question.

But wasn't that what she wanted? She knew she wasn't happy, didn't deserve to be and probably never would be. The voices wouldn't go away that easily, they had assured her so and in this particular matter she knew she could absolutely trust in what she was hearing. They would not leave her be – not without fighting.

She had tried once before, she had taken the medication the school psychologist had prescribed to her. It however hadn't worked. They had come back even more forcefully this time... and longer, much longer than they would normally talk to her. She had had more trouble fighting them off and she had been even more afraid afterwards.

Even if they would put her into a hospital and on medication there wasn't any guarantee she would ever be alone´ again. And apart from that – even if she was getting rid of her talkative companions – she wouldn't ever be happy again.

She had disappointed her mother to the core, she had shot at several students at her school, she would never be able to return to high school, probably be sentenced for life because of murder. She would never have any friends, her family would never want to see her again and she would have to live the rest of her miserable life alone in a cell at a state prison.

Maybe it was what she deserved, maybe it was right to sentence her – after all she had commited a major crime. But she had done it for a reason, had done it for the one thing that had mattered to her and that was being happy again. She obviously had absolutely failed on that goal.

Whatever she would do - she could no longer achieve that goal, and honestly spoken, she knew she didn't have enough courage to try once again and not enough trust to allow anyone else to try for her. To her mind there was only one more thing, one solution to come up with and she knew she would have enough courage for this step.

She stopped crying right then, having made a decision and managing to ignore the voices for at least some moments. She only needed to find enough courage to get up from her sitting spot where she had slit down the wall and get to cross the room. It wasn't the most easy thing to do, but she hoped she would manage.

She moved her hand behind her back, pressing them against the wall and moving her body upwards slowly – very, very slowly. She managed to get up on her feet, putting full weight on her legs, but these however wouldn't move. She was unable to take a step forward. She could feel the tension rise inside of her – she didn't have much time. She needed to fullfil her plan before the voices would come back and haunt her once again.

She took a deep breath and managed to take the first step. This helped – as soon as she knew she could actually do it, she could cross this room. She took another step and another and yet another until she had finally reached the table the weapon she had used to shoot down at the school yard with was lying at. It wasn't the most fitting weapon to go through with her plan, but it was the only one she had. She hadn't taken her father's second gun with her... hadn't believed she would need it.

It took her another deep breath and a few moments to take the gun – grabbing it firmly with both hands, that hard that her knuckles went wide. She slowly sat down on the table still holding the gun and not being able to move it into position.

"Miranda?"

She felt panic rise inside of her – pure and absolute panic. She didn't have any more time. They were there! They were coming back! They would try to stop her! She needed to end her plan, needed to do what she wanted to do, needed to get to her final solution of getting rid of her problems and she needed to do it in a rush.

Grim determination took a hold on her and caused her mind to become absolutely blank for a few more moments. Her reactions came almost automatically right then. She felt like a robot, like she was watching herself from some place inside this room but not really being a part of what was happening.

She positioned herself on the chair, took the gun into the right position too and managed to take an aim directly at her heart. She could feel tears rise in her eyes right then... The agent from FBI she had been talking to had been wrong – there was nobody who cared, nobody would grieve for her. It was a sad thought...

But it wouldn't change her decision – she had known nobody would. It would be the same thing in living – nobody would care for her and it would be even harder this way because she would have to... live... with that. The way she chose she didn't have to.

With trembling fingers she reached for the trigger down under her. She squezzed the tears beginning to form in her eyes from them and took another deep breath which she held for a few moments. As she exhaled them she closed her eyes, took another moment and then... pulled the trigger.

They had just come up with their decision to enter the school when they heard the sound. It was far away – as they were behind the security ring, but all of them had heard it and had been able to categorize it. The fact that it had been more muffled didn't mean anything good for Miranda Thomas' condition.

It had been a shot, definitely, which meant that Miranda Thomas had probably just killed herself. It at least was Jack's believe – the girl's last words, her psychological background, the circumstances of her disappearance – it all pointed to one probable conclusion.

He hadn't been able to save her, he had tried for the last 45 minutes, had desperately used every last of this minutes to keep her on the phone and convince her to give up. He had been close – he knew that – and it was the saddest part about the outcome of this situation. He almost had managed to make her give up.

But then something out of his control had happened and she had hung up on him. She had given in to her own demons and had listened to them. She had struggled, fought a hard battle with them and – obviously – she had lost that battle just a moment ago.

He was turned back to reality right then when the police captain addressed him.

"Agent Malone? What do you make of this? She killed herself didn't she?"

"Probably – yes."

"Alright then – we're going to get in there and find out about it."

He nodded in aprovement, but without really listening to the police officer. He had another, more urgent thing to do right now. They had just lost one life – a life they had been responsible for in a particular way. But he had yet still to take care of somebody else's life in his custody. A life he still would be able to safe.

Hopefully ...


	23. Chapter 22 : Waiting for hlp

Chapter 22:

Her phone rang out in the silence of the school-yard and she couldn't help herself but wince. After the last shot, that hadn't been clearly audible after all, that shot from somewhere above, probably from inside the school building's tower, there had been silence, absolute silence. She didn't even need to have a look at the display to know who was calling her.

"Jack."

She knew what he would tell her, he would skip the part about what they both already know, what had happened up there in the tower. The one important thing right now was, that it meant that the ambulances and medics finally would get the chance to help the victims of the shooting now that the situation was cleared and there was no more risk for them. She had been right – he wouldn't even make the slightest comment about it right now. Their main priority was to get Danny to a hospital right now. Dealing with Miranda Thomas and what had happened to her could wait for the moment.

„It's another five to ten minutes. Just another ten minutes, Sam. The ambulances were kept behind the safety ring – for their own protection. You just gotta hang in there, they are almost there."

Sam was tightly holding her co-worker's limp hand, he was almost unconscious and she could feel him shiver violently from feeling cold, probably as a result of the blood-loss. She squeezed his hand even more tightly, desperately hoping to soothe him by letting him know she was still there – by his side. She whispered an answer to the cell, hoping for Danny not to hear her.

"We don't have another ten minutes, Jack – goddamn it! He's bleeding, he's bleeding to death – the godforsaken bullet ripped an artery apart and I believe it probably hit his spine. He said he didn't feel his legs. Good god, Jack – he's dying."

She didn't hear anything – no answer, not a word – Jack was silent on the other end of the line. She could hear the slight trembling in his raspy voice when he finally managed to put an answer, an assurance together – but it didn't make her feel any better. There was nothing they could do – simply wait, wait for the medics to arrive – they all knew that.

"You just have to hang in there, keep him awake. They are rushing in, they are almost there..."

Jack never got to finish the sentence or Sam rather didn't hear it, because all of a sudden all her attention was drawn to her co-worker, who forcefully had grabbed her hand. She could feel the pain in her fingers caused by his strong grip, but she knew she couldn't let go. Even if she would've wanted, he wouldn't have given that chance to her. She had no idea where that sudden power came from – he had been halfway unconscious and she had doubted to even be able to keep him awake for the next few minutes until the ambulance would arrive. But still she didn't know if this was a good sign, especially as she didn't want him to move around. If the bullet actually had hit his spine, moving around in panic and confusion would only make it worse – she didn't want the injury to get even more severe than it already was.

And panic it was, that she saw written on his face – she wished so desperately to help him in any way, to find the right words to soothe him and assure him, that everything would be alright, but she didn't know what to say to him. Bloody hell! She knew him for years now, but she hadn't even the slightest idea of what to say to make him feel any better – how cold-hearted was that? She remembered that she was still on the phone with Jack, but before she was able to tell him what had just happened, why they had been interrupted, Danny addressed her in a low, shaky voice.

"Sam? Is that you? Are you there?"

She managed to get a soothing tone in her voice and kept the fear out of it. She didn't want him to hear how threatened she was, how much she feared that the ambulance wouldn't be here in time. It was the last thing he needed and definitely nothing that would assure someone lying in a pool of his own blood, desperately waiting for help.

"Yeah – I'm here Danny. Don't worry – they're sending the ambulance in, they are almost here..."

"Sam, I... I can't..."

"I know, Danny – I know. Don't worry about it, the medics are gonna take care of it. It's gonna be alright."

She could see a smile on his face and – in complete confusion – asked herself what he was smiling about. This was a goddamn hostile situation, there was nothing to smile about. But having a closer look right now, he didn't seem that happy about anything after all. He needed some seconds to find the words to explain that smile on his face.

"You're a bad liar, Samantha Spade – always have been."

She really had hoped to sound believable and assuring, but she obviously had failed with that. But she wouldn't blame herself for it right now – her main priority was to keep Danny awake until the medics arrived. And as long as he was talking to her she would go for it – that definitely was the right direction to keep him with her, to keep him awake – to keep him alive.

"I'm sorry – I didn't mean to."

"I know you didn't. But you should stop practicing your skills on a dying man..."

She hardly was able to keep the control of her feelings when he said that. She could hear herself breathe in heavily and exhale with a hiss as a reaction to what he just said. She hadn't wanted this to happen, hadn't wanted to lose control and now finally let him know about her fear. But she hadn't been prepared to such a reaction, such an answer from him. Right now she couldn't hide the trembling as she started talking again.

"Stop talking like that! You're not gonna die! Understand me? You're not gonna die!"

She could hear the sirens of the ambulance somewhere close to their position right then and couldn't help it but breathe a sigh of relief. Less than ten minutes – they were finally there, there to help her co-worker and safe his life. As relieved as she was, she almost didn't get Danny responding to her in a quiet voice.

"We'll see, Sam – we'll see..."

And with that and to her complete horror and disbelief – he lost consciousness.


	24. Chapter 23 : Aftermath

A.N.: Asd you're all so very excited and curious to get to know what happened to Danny – I'll let you now. Please R+R.

Chapter 23:

They had been quick, extremely quick. Not even five minutes after the last shot in the school's tower had rang out they had been inside the building and up the stairs. An elite SWAT team had been send inside the school to check the tower and see if the shooter maybe had survived.

They carefully moved up the stairs, trying to not make any sound on the old wodden stairs. They didn't want to alarm the shooter, if she was still alive. But actually it was just a measure of police tactics. Nobody actually believed that the girl had survived. The last shot had not been fired out of that room and everybody getting up the stairs right now, knew what that meant.

Slowly, very slowly and absolutely careful they opened the door to the tower and secured it with their guns they held stretched out at length. But there was no need for this, no more need after all.

The sight in front of their eyes was pretty disturbing and one would suspect that they had already seen a pretty big deal of disturbing things. As to expect Miranda was in the tower's room, but she no longer was able to do anything in favor or against the policemen coming up the stairs and into the room right now.

She was lying in a pool of her own blood in the middle of the little room, her eyes wide open and a gunshot wound to her chest. One of the police squad's members knelt down by her unmoving form and unsuccesfully felt for a pulse. If he wouldn't have been wearing the black mask above his face one would have been able to see him swallow hard.

Their interference had come to late and it was of no use any more. There was no one left to take down to clearify the situation, no one to protect from himself anymore. They couldn't help this young woman any more – she was far beyond their reach now and out of their jurisdiction...

Samantha wasn't able to react for a few seconds as she realized she had just lost her co-

worker to unconsciousness. The ambulance was still about a minute away and she had the responsibility to take care of Danny until the medics were finally able to help him. She tried to think, tried to fight back the feelings and fought some reason back into her mind.

She kneeled above her fallen co worker, closing in to listen for his breathing and reaching out two fingers to feel for a pulse. It was some kind of automatic reaction – making sure he was still okay apart from his unconscious state. She had dificulties detecting his pulse, but it was there, it was pretty weak, but it was steady. His breathing on the other hand she didn't like after all – it was shallow and raspy. He seemed to have extreme difficulties to get some air at least.

She knew there wasn't much she could do about this, nothing after all actually. She wasn't a medic and her basic knowledge would not be of any greater help... The only thing she was able to manage was being there for him. For his physical condition this wouldn't mean anything – but she hoped it would be a mental comfort for him at some rate.

She just realized that she was still holding her cell phone in hands, still being in contact with Jack. The situation around her had overwhelmed her for a few seconds and she hadn't even thought about anything but her co-worker's condition. But right now - finally coming back to awareness – she heard Jack's voice, full of concern, saying her name over and over again.

"Samantha?"

"I'm here, Jack, I'm still here."

"What happened? How is he? Is he alright?"

"He's unconscious, Jack - I lost him, and he's not well. I was barely able to detect his pulse, and his breathing is laboured. He needs help, Jack – now!"

She was agitated and she was afraid, which she had all reason for, but it wasn't a very good combination to get her, get both of them to the final step of this disasterous, hostile situation. She needed to calm down, he needed to find a way to make her to, at least until the EMT finally arrived at the scene of the shooting.

"Sam, I need you to calm down – for Danny's sake. Just stay with him, keep him monitored. The ambulance is on it's way and it will be there in no time. Please don't worry, they are going to help him..."

"You don't get this, Jack! He's in a bad shape, he's losing too much blood... There's nothing I can do for him."

"You don't need to do anything more for him, Sam. You did nothing wrong – you have been there for him. There will be help for him in nothing more than a few minutes, they're going to take care of him. He's going to be fine Sam – he's strong. So don't you worry."

The fact that she didn't answer immediately told him that she was thinking about his words and that he had probably reached her, had managed to convince her. He could actually hear it, her breathing – which had quickened while she had agitatedly yelled at him - had calmed down again.

"Okay, Jack. I'm gonna try to stay calm..."

Something made her stop in the middle of the sentence and he could feel his own fear and concern rise. Taking the situation into consideration it couldn't mean any good. Why hadn't she finished her sentence? What had stopped her? What had happened? He knew he was getting irrational right now, but he couldn't really help it.

"Sam – what's wrong! What happened?"

"They're here, Jack. EMT just arrived at the scene. They are taking care of Danny now.

She wasn't in need to do anything for Danny any more, as the medics arrived right at that moment. They were taking control of the situation and she actually welcomed it – she was no longer responsible. She stepped aside right now, leaving them some space to work. But she couldn't step away, she couldn't leave him alone, couldn't get her eyes of the scene in front of her. Holding her hands tightly clutched around her body, trying to protect herself from the cold – she just stood there and stared down on him.

One of the medics – detecting how she was trying to shield herself from the cold – handed back her coat to her, which she took gratefully and huddled herself into it. It was barely warm, which caused her concern to grew even more – it was another hint of the bad shape Danny was in. Still she probably had made a good decision in giving the coat to him. He would've felt way more cold and probably would've lost consciousness earlier, if she hadn't done so.

"What did he tell you about his condition before he lost consciousness?"

Sam was taken out of her thoughts and back to the scene as one of the medics addressed her. So far they had stuck an IV line to Danny's forehand to provide him with liquid to balance the blood loss for the moment and had given oxygen to him to help him with his laboured breathing. So far they hadn't yet turned him to his side to have a look at the gunshot wound to his back and the question the medic had just asked her, told her why. They didn't want to aggravate Danny's injuries even more.

"He said he couldn't move his legs..."

"Alright, then – we need to be very careful when moving him to the gurney. From what you just told me it indicates an injury to his spine and if we move him to forcefully we may aggravate this injury even more..."

She followed the actions of the two medics as they – in an absolutely professional manner – carefully moved him to his side, crudely bandaged the wound for the moment and moved him back onto the gurney, especially designed for cases like this, where a patient was suffering from a potential injury to the spine. Afterwards they quickly moved him to the ambulance, Samantha staying by their side.

"You wanna come with us?"

"Yes, of course."


	25. Chapter 24 : Dealing

A.N.: So that's it – the final chapter. There may be a sequel if I ever manage to finish it and if you're interested… Please R+R.

Chapter 24:

Jack quietly stepped behind Samantha, who was standing in front of the examination window opening to Danny's hospital room, arms crossed before her chest, face expressionless and staring inside. He wasn't even sure she had realized he was there and he didn't want to disturb her, as lost in thought as she seemed. Therefore he kept his voice at bay as he addressed her.

"Have you been talking to a doctor yet?"

Even now – being that careful with her – she slightly winced. She stayed in the same position for some more moments, her eyes transfixed on the form of her injured co-worker, lying in that hospital bed. Finally - and with an effort - she turned away and faced Jack, giving him a concerned look.

"Yeah – I talked to his surgeon as they brought him back down here from OR. He told me that they were able to remove the bullet and stop the blood loss. He has lost pretty much blood, but they told me he's going to wake up soon..."

"You don't actually sound happy about that news?"

He knew he was neither polite nor very careful in the choice of his words, but he hadn't actually been thinking about what he was saying. He was still pretty emotionally entangled as he had just informed Miranda's parents about their daughter's death and he felt concerned about Danny and his condition. Therefore he had simply questioned Samantha without careful thinking about her emotional state – but she didn't seem to be angry with him. She seemed to be just sad.

"That's because it's not all – the doctor told me something else...

He told me he wasn't sure about the injury to his spine. He couldn't tell if it would be having any permanent effect. They need to wait until he wakes up. Then we're about to find out..."

"So it's likely to have a permanent effect?"

"The surgeon didn't say that, he said it was a possibility. But from my point I believe he just tried to stay positive and didn't want to disturb me... Danny told me he wasn't feeling his legs. He told me already when we were waiting for the ambulance..."

He tried to find some soothing words that would help her, but he actually didn't found them. At least none that would sound believable. Sam had already told him about this on the phone and Danny having the lack of feeling earlier wasn't a good sign after all. Both of them knew that all to well. Still they had to stay positive as the doctor had suggested – there wasn't much more they could do but hope – hope for at least one good outcome.

"You shouldn't think about it too much. We don't know about his condition – why not wait till he wakes up and can tell us himself?"

She had turned away from him once again by now and was staring back into Danny's room, carefully looking at her unconscious co-worker. Jack didn't dare to touch her as she was standing there completely lost to the situation. He didn't know what to say any more – he had run out of soothing words... Yet Sam didn't really seem to be in a need of them.

"I can't go in there, Jack. I don't know why, but I don't have the courage to get in there and sit by his side, waiting for him to wake up. I don't want to have certainty. It would just be too cruel if this turns ill..."

"I know that and I fully understand... You don't need to wait by his side. I'd actually suggest you get some rest yourself. It has been a hard day for you, too."

Barely visible she was shaking her head, but not saying a word right now. He wasn't even sure she really had been listening to him. He at least knew she wouldn't give in to his proposal, she wouldn't leave Danny right now, she wouldn't rest – she had gone this far, had been there for him for the whole distance of time – she wouldn't leave him alone right now.

"No, I can't – I can't just go away. I won't leave him alone..."

"You want me to join you?"

Once again she turned around and this time she wore an expression on her face – a slight but still sad smile. He wasn't absolutely sure what she was smiling for, there wasn't much to be content about after all. But he actually knew that this was just about thankfullness – she was thankful for him trying to give her counsel and now she rewarded him with a smile.

"No, it's okay – I'll stay here alone. It's gonna be okay. Don't worry..."

With this, she passed him by, opened the door to the hospital room and entered hesitatingly. She carefully sat down beside the bed, trying to be absolutely quiet as if she was afraid to wake Danny up. It would be a matter of waiting right now and Jack didn't wish to disturb her any more than she already was in her actual state by peering through the window.

She must've fallen asleep – though she couldn't remember it. She recalled talking to Jack and finally entering the room, sitting down besides Danny's hospital bed. But she didn't remember anything else. She felt a slight feeling of guilt and shame – she had come here to watch over him and be there for him and the first thing she had been doing was falling asleep...

She wondered why she had woken up anyway. As she must've been extremely tired – as she actually had fallen asleep as soon as she had sat down in the chair beside Danny's side, it was highly unlike she would've woken on her own just like that.

She gazed at her watch, realizing, that it had been almost three hours of sleep, which she had been able to take. It was now early evening and she knew the nurse in charge would soon be coming around, throwing her out. She wouldn't get permission to stay over night.

A deep, shattered breath and a slight moan ripped her out of her thoughts. Now she knew what had been waking her up, why she hadn't been able to stay in her dreamless, soothing sleep. It was Danny breathing in deeply just beside her – he was waking up...

She felt tension rise within herself and for a moment she didn't know why. But that moment passed very soon as the surgeon's words came back on her mind all of a sudden. There was no way back and out of it any more. The moment had come – a moment of truth and certainty. As soon as he was fully awake they would know if the injury had any permanent effect.

Without even thinking – having the urgent wish to somehow support her co-worker – Sam reached out her arm and touched Danny's hand, carefully holding it in hers – hoping for him to feel her presence. She hoped to be able of assuring him and giving him at least some strength – the strength he needed to wake up. Her voice – sounding slightly raspy – was but a whisper as she addressed him right then.

"Danny, it's okay. You're in hospital – everything's fine. You don't need to worry. Do you understand me?"

It took some more awfully long moments, but at least she got a reaction. It seemed a great effort to him – probably due to the narcotics from the surgery – to blink his eyes open and looking at her. It took another few moments before he focused his look on her and finally managed to piece an answer together.

"Sam?"

"Yeah, I'm here, I'm with you. Are you okay? Are you in any pain?"

He seemed to need some time to think about this question or just needed a few moments to piece the answer together – she wasn't sure on this one. However she didn't receive an answer to her question for the surgeon she had been talking to entered the room right then, stepping close to the bed.

"Mr. Taylor – I'm doctor Davies. I want to check on your condition and I need you to answer me a few questions. Okay?"

"Alright."

"May you move your toes for me?"

Samantha felt the tension rise inside of her as the doctor asked the question. It was the one decisive moment she had been afraid of. The doctor had told her there was only this one moment to decide if Danny would be okay, and if this wouldn't work...

She could feel herself staring to the end of the bed – fearful and expecting at the same time. The seconds seemed to go on forever as Danny tried to fullfill the doctors demand. But seconds turned into a minute and yet another minute... Nothing happened.

This couldn't be true – it just wasn't happening. She was probably dreaming – still half lying in that chair besides her co-worker's bed waiting for him to regain consciousness and having a nightmare about the events that could possibly happen when she was forced to wake. The doctor's words pulled her back out of her thoughts.

"Do you have any sensation in your legs?"

This wasn't a dream, it wasn't a nightmare. It was just too real to be one. But the bitter realization that astounded her right then was that she was awake and that was far worse than any nightmare she could've been having. Yet it still got even more worse...

"No, I don't..."


	26. Epilogue

Epilogue:

"Miranda!"

The voice was squeaking! She couldn't believe it – that voice had lost it's self-assured, egoistic tone and for the first time since she heard it, for the first time ever, it showed real emotions. The emotion of fear. It was afraid, deeply afraid, as much as she was, when it was talking to her. A smile crossed her lips as she realized – she finally had gotten a hold on it. For the first time ever the fight had taken another direction and she had gained victory, she had defeated the voice.

"What have you done? Good god, girl – what have you done!"

The voice was getting hysterical now and Miranda managed to laugh as she heard the trembling in it. Normally it was her part to tremble and their part to laugh, but the situation had changed. Now, she had finally managed to get a hold on her fear and desperation and had taken them down. She hadn't even believed she was able to do it – she had given up, but she obviously had been wrong to do so.

But she couldn't enjoy her victory after all – something was wrong, something was wrong with her. She felt weak and tired, but that was okay, it had been a hard fight for her. But there was something else – she believed her vision was blurry and she couldn't breathe properly. She didn't feel good – of course she was happy – but physically she felt like she had been hit by a train or something.

But she was happy – for the first time in months she was happy. She had almost forgotten how it felt to have this emotion, had forgotten how wonderful it was to feel like this. She just couldn't believe her luck, couldn't believe she had actually managed to get her life back. From now on she had an own life again – all for herself, never having to fear hearing these voices ever again.

"Miranda! Miranda? You can't do this! You can't treat us like this!"

She pieced a few words together – a sarcastic comment – but it was hard to do so. The words barely left her throat and she felt like something was wrong with her mouth, she felt a warm liquor inside that didn't belong there. But she didn't care – she could take care of that sensation later. Right now she just wished to spit back a sarcastic comment, to do what the voices had been doing to her for such a long time.

"I can do whatever I like and you can't do anything against it. Not any more!"

Miranda felt how she lost her balance, falling to her knees and not even able to hold her weight in that position, she fell to her back, breathing heavily and trying to piece together what was happening to her. She knew something was definitely very wrong, but she couldn't remember what had happened to her. And she didn't want to right now, she only wanted the voices to finally leave.

"Miranda. Girl, we are afraid. You can't do this to us. Please, Miranda, don't do this to us..."

She was unable to answer, to spit back a comment this time. She was too much focused on catching her breath. Why didn't she get air? What was that warm liquor in her throat? Why was her shirt stuck to her skin? And why couldn't she properly see? She had no answers to these questions and still it didn't matter to her – the voice was still there.

"Miranda. Miranda?"

She could hear the voice call her name over and over again and with each time the sound got more quiet and moved further and further away from her. Relief rushed over her as the voice finally died down and she couldn't hear it any more. She couldn't hear anything but silence. Never a night waking up and hearing them ever again, beautiful silence. As relief and joy rushed over her by the thought of that long missed silence, she closed her eyes and everything went black as she breathed her last sigh of relief.

Forever.


End file.
